How High Achievers Can Avoid Burnout and Embrace Their Unique Strengths.

This question came up during a session with a client who’s a high achiever.

Client: How do I draw a line between beating myself up and being complacent about achieving my goals?

Me: Have you done your personality test?

Client: Yes.

In case you aren’t aware of what a personality test is all about, you can take your personality test here if you haven’t.

The thing is, you have a unique personality that God specifically designed for you, and knowing it is one step toward understanding how to do things in your unique way.

What often happens is that as women—especially high achievers—we pile up a lot onto our plates with the mindset that we can do it all within a short time. This usually backfires and leads to burnout.

I’ve experienced this myself. As a Book Coach, I help, guide, and hold my clients accountable from their book ideas to publication. It’s what I love doing. However, I do not enjoy working on one part of the journey to getting the book ready for publication—editing. I have a keen eye for detail, catching issues that most people would overlook. But since editing requires patience and hours (depending on the word count) of going through a manuscript, I find it hard to sit for such long stretches. 🤭🤦🏾‍♀️

I’ve felt guilty for not enjoying this part of the process, often bullying myself into doing it until I decided to relinquish that part of the process to a professional editor on my team. If the write-up is more than 1,500 words, count me out! I’m not going to handle the copy and line editing. I can definitely do the developmental editing and nothing more. 😂

Understanding this about myself has helped me focus on my strengths and give my all in those areas. The coaching and accountability aspects are where I truly thrive.

When setting goals, ensure that you have the resources you need to achieve them, whether from yourself or your team. Accept that you cannot do it all, and find peace in that. 😃😍

From my experiences and perspectives, here are a few things to consider:

You underestimate the time it takes to complete a task in a year while overestimating what you can accomplish in a day.

Read that again. 👆
If you set a goal of writing, editing, and publishing a quality book in just one month, know that you’re already setting yourself up for failure and stress. This project will take more time, regardless of whether you’re self-publishing or following the traditional route.

You tend to go against your season of life.
Setting goals that are misaligned with your current season will only lead to struggle.

You know your personality but refuse to accept and follow it.
Understanding your strengths can lead to a happier you, while focusing on your weaknesses can lead to misery. Period.

You take on more than you can handle because you’re a people pleaser.
Knowing yourself inside out allows for better choices. If you’re a people pleaser, it’s time to address this before you completely burn out. Here’s another test you can take to determine where you fall on the spectrum.

My wish for you as a Muslimah coach or consultant is to work with pleasure and joy as you accomplish your business and personal goals.

I pray that Allah grants you ease as you attain success in this life and the hereafter. Ameen.

To your awesomeness,

Raheemah

Your Book/Accountability Coach

PS: If you're yet to watch this FREE webinar of 14 minutes to know the purpose behind writing your book, you must watch it now. It also includes a beautiful offer that you cannot miss. Get it here