Are you an Underachiever or an Overachiever?
Is your answer based on hard evidence, the opinion of others or a personal view?
Have you always been an Underachiever / Overachiever or is this a more recent realisation?
I would say most people would admit to being Underachievers. Whether it’s feelings of modesty, our level of self-confidence or a fear of the Tall Poppy Syndrome if we stick our head up, most of us tend to downplay our abilities.
The self-confessed Overachiever is rare. But if you are one, feel free to confess in the comments below. You can balance out all the self-confessed Underachievers. All on your own. Because you’re an Overachiever, right?
I suppose you could be one of those truly rare breeds – the Normalachiever. One of those who believes they achieve just the right number of things at just the right level of attainment. If this is you, I give you my deepest admiration. Also, I hate you.
Not really.
Well, maybe just a little bit.
So which one are you?
Sorry?
Which one am I?
Ah. There’s another category for the Jacks of All Trades of the world. We are the Overachieving Underachievers.
Jacks of All Trades always see themselves as Underachievers. It’s in the name. Why else would we claim to be “Master of None”?
To the outsider, however, a Jack of All Trades appears as an Overachiever. “You mean you run half-marathons, write songs and can fix computers? What can’t you do??”
But a Jack of All Trades does all these things because she is looking for that one thing at which she might actually excel. That one thing she can achieve at the standard she expects of herself. And because a Jack of All Trades always views herself as an Underachiever, that standard – in her eyes, at least – is never attained.
And just so you really understand, here’s an example of how a Jack of All Trades’ mind might work:
Let’s say a Jack of All Trades completes a half-marathon. Unless she wins the half-marathon this is an underachievement. If she does win a half-marathon, this is still an underachievement because it isn’t a full marathon. If she goes on to win a full marathon, well, other people run ultra-marathons, don’t they? If she then wins an ultra-marathon (you realise this is all hypothetical, right? really, really hypothetical…), did she win it in the fastest time ever run? If she did, was it the hardest ultra-marathon you can do? And so on and so forth.
See? Overachieving Underachiever.
Now excuse me while I go and decide whether to take up the bagpipes or pole-vaulting…
All images courtesy of http://www.despair.com “Motivational products don’t work. But our Demotivator® products don’t work even better.” Click on any image to go to the website.
It really depends on ‘ achievement’, . I feel enormous sense of achievement when my feet find the floor waking up from a good night’s sleep. Others might find reaching Mount Everest an achievement.
LikeLiked by 7 people
This is a valid point. Perhaps we can all be Overachievers if we pick things that are more than achievable. I think I might attempt to eat an orange today. Hm. But could I do it without making a mess? Yeah, still an Underachiever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Loved the last image!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that one made me laugh out loud.
LikeLike
I wish you had the faintest idea of where all this originates …
Oh, you do ?
Well, work on it, then.
XO
LikeLiked by 1 person
But ‘self-improvement’ is one more of those things I can underachieve spectacularly.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Far too witty !!!!!!!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think I’ll just be… me 🙂 But I adore the two penguin posters. Carry on enjoying life, H. You’re pretty good at it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Smart move. I would do the same but I haven’t figured out exactly who that is yet.
Aren’t the posters great? Joanne got me on to those. I love them. 😀
LikeLike
Me too 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry? Did you ask me something? I’m too busy chuckling over those non-motivational posters! Especially the penguins. What is it about penguins that makes you smile?
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’re hilarious. Penguins are like the class clowns of the bird world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m underachieving at the moment…laying in bed, not the least bit concerned about doing anything. But it’s Saturday and when I finally arise, I’ll be overachieving at a rapid pace, trying to accomplish far too much in a short amount of time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah. So you’re one of those Oscillating Achievers?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, that’s it! I oscillate! And, for a few dollars more, I’ll twirl!
LikeLiked by 1 person
These days, I am an underachiever’s underachiever. But that is my opinion. I appreciate the question you posed “Is your answer based on hard evidence, the opinion of others or a personal view?”
Years ago, during a rebellious phase, I left the corporate world to be a bohemian. That was fun. [ironic font] When I reapplied to work for the same company, one of the questions on the intake form asked, “What would your old boss have to say about you?” When I sat for the interview, I was stunned to learn that my old boss not only agreed with what I had to say, she had a lot more good stuff to report about me, too. That was a learning moment for me. The fact that your question startled me this morning tells me I need to hear the lesson again.
Let me ask a personal question: this quest of yours, are you pulled toward something like bagpipes or pole vaulting because of the appeal? Or are you driven to achieve because you feel prodded and poked? Carrot or stick?
LikeLiked by 3 people
I love that you tried being a bohemian for a while. Only good in small doses though, eh?
I’m glad this post may have prodded some thoughts and I hope you were listening when you remembered that lesson. Because I don’t believe you are an underachiever’s underachiever at all. I read your blog. I’ve seen evidence to the contrary. 🙂
As to your question: Hm. A bit of both. Carrot on a stick? It’s true what it says over there on the side of my blog. I really am trying to find something that I am instantly, spectacularly good at. You know, that thing that people say “My goodness, you’re a natural.” I haven’t found it yet. It bugs me.
But I also have a bit of a “SQUIRREL!” tendency for things I haven’t tried. The pole-vaulting? I was running around the river, training for the last half-marathon, and as I ran past the athletics field, I saw someone teaching a group how to pole-vault. And I went “SQUIRREL!” or, more truthfully, “Oooh. THAT looks like fun.” 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, H – I’m driven to scratch the itch, too, to find that one pastime that will allow me to focus and zone out. (There’s a fancy word for that, but it’s beyond me at the moment.) To find my bliss, and… dare I say it?
I do: yadda. yadda. yadda.
Stay tuned. There’s a blog post brewing. I need some time to work it through. A very provocative post, my dear. Thanks again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be watching out for that post. 🙂
LikeLike
I wish you WOULD try pole-vaulting so that I could enjoy the learning effort vicariously through you. Ever since I read the Hardy Boys’ book where they pole vault, I have been interested and wanted to try it, but never thought of a place to try it–it’s not like it was offered as a standalone at school, outside of all track: Pole Vaulting 101.
I did, howwever, do the Tremors thing in the woods, as a kid, using a big branch–who didn’t? (This was pre-Tremors, mind you.) And that was fun : )
My fantasy was to pole vault over the 6′ chain-link fence that was topped by barbed wire which surrounded our reservoir. Now THAT would have been cool. As it was, we had to ever-so-delicately pick our way over it. Snagged more jeans that way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My only hesitation is in the “falling from a great height” fear factor. But I did once jump out of an aeroplane, fortunately strapped to someone else who was – even more fortunately – strapped to a parachute, so it’s not like I can’t do it.
You’re gonna have to help me with the “Tremors” reference. Que?
Maybe that’s why it’s not widely taught in schools. They don’t want to put the skill into the hands of people who want to get over walls they shouldn’t get over.
LikeLike
Oh. Em. Gee! Have you NEVER seen “Tremors”!??!!!??? Tonight!! Netflix!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Er. No. This one? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100814/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Don’t have Netflix (it’s pretty new here) but I’ll see what I can do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I could email you another source. Is your email on your site somewhere?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s okay. You’ve just reminded me that the new tv we bought a couple of weeks ago comes with a deal for 6 months free Netflix. Putting through the application now. 🙂
(And yes, there’s an email address on the right of my page.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m over there now : )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes–that one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My goodness woman, you must drive yourself crazy??!! Completing any sports event is a huge achievement FULL STOP! celebrate all your achievements and don’t label them 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t need to drive myself. I’m pretty sure I reached that destination long ago. 😀
LikeLike
That’s a tough way to live x
LikeLike
The worst thing to be would be neither an underachiever nor an overachiever…..then you would be at the top of the bell curve….the middle of the mountain, as it’s said in Latin: in medies ocris, or “mediocre.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
You win a prize for Comment of the Post, Cynthia. I don’t know what the prize is. I could send you some Vegemite. Or you could just have my sincerest thanks sent through the ether. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now, Cynthia: Residing in the meat of the curve does not mean one is mediocre. The majority may excel. Or the majority may at least be competent, or on the right track. I believe it is the very competent Jiminy Cricket who says in one of the Disney cartoons:
“It could happen.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I LOVE this post! It’s FULL of demotivational posters … my favourite.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Squirrel.
LikeLiked by 2 people
😀
LikeLike
I’d started out with the Simpsons (Bart vs Lisa) but your last post reminded me about these and there were just so many to choose from I had to use them. Thanks for putting me on to these gems! Doesn’t matter how many times I read them, I still laugh out loud.
LikeLike
Our shared sense of humour … I can’t help myself either. I still laugh at them as if I’m reading them for the first time 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Listening to you and Maggie gripe about being dissatisfied makes me want to demotivate the two of you by knocking your over-achieving overly-competent heads together. After dressing you both like penguins.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I would happily comply with this procedure only because it would mean that you, me and Maggie would actually physically be in the same room together and that could only be a good thing. BYO penguin suit?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would be dressed as a polar bear. Remember that core of hate? Bwah-ah-ah!!
😈
LikeLiked by 1 person
But polar bears are never in the same room as penguins. You would be better to dress as a leopard seal. They’re much scarier than polar bears anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But the stuffed animal (toy) versions of them are so adorable! I was not going for cuddly, here.
😡
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having been an underachiever throughout my younger years, it has been a hard thing to shift. Not that I’ve ever been an over achiever, but I might concur with Janet to be mediocre and happily satisfied.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess satisfaction is the key. Whatever you are, or wherever you sit on the bell curve, if you’re happy with it, then there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s those of us with the unsettled feeling that this is not who we’re meant to be or what we’re meant to be doing that get stuck on this endless quest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you can find satisfaction and contentment too, most probably with the stars! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
For once I feel sorry for you. So much pressure. And all self-inflicted.
I’m a non-achiever: I do enough to get by and forever ignore the fact that I can’t play a musical instrument or sing, haven’t mastered mathematics, can’t draw, bake or sew, can’t snow ski or ride a horse, have no wit or comedic timing…(I think you get the picture).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t feel sorry for me, BB. It is, as you say, self-inflicted. And, you know, there are some significant people in my life who would not be there if I hadn’t always been searching for the next new thing. 🙂
You are not a non-achiever. Just look at those photographs you post on your blog. Amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s me too. I still have this crazy idea that there will be time to compose an opera, when I have finished my current career.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, so much fun stuff to do, so little time… and money…. and energy….
Hold onto that crazy idea. You just never know. 🙂
LikeLike
I used to think I just had no ambition; and my motivation, enthusiasm to do things tends towards being there in spades or not all. I started wondering yesterday if I might actually be an underachiever by default. Normalachieving underachiever.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mm. Sometimes we want to climb the scary slide and ride it down at speed and sometimes we just want to sit in the sandpit. I get that. A Normalachieving Underachiever, eh? That’s a new twist on the theme. I see where you’re coming from. I think, as it has been said before, you have to find what you’re happy with really. Who says you have to be ambitious if you don’t want to be?
Thanks for sharing and commenting. 🙂
LikeLike
climb the scary slide and ride it down at speed and sometimes we just want to sit in the sandpit
What an apt descriptor! I’m glad I found your post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ever tried traveling? Learning languages?
LikeLike