What’s a high achiever?
I realized today that my blog is actually intended for high achievers (enterprising, go-getter, self-starter types). In order to understand why I made this selection, I first need to communicate my definition of a high achiever. I’ve identified 6 key criteria that the quintessential high achiever would fare well against.
- Talent – She has found a way to align her own natural talent to what she is trying to achieve. She plays to her strengths and, in doing so, finds herself drawing on the strengths of others as she partners closely with them.
- Purpose – She is acutely aware of her duty to serve others. She knows that work for the sake of work is meaningless and assumes meaning only at the point at which service to another, in any form, begins. There is a greater purpose in her work and actions. She is service-oriented and remains so in all she does.
- Goals – Her broader goals are named and known to her. She uses her goals to orient her actions. She doesn’t waste time and energy on actions that don’t forward her goals. Things don’t seem disorganized and chaotic to her as her goals are a constant reminder of the bigger picture and where she is headed.
- Passion – She is not simply interested in what she is doing, she is passionate about it. Her love shines through her work. As a salesperson, she truly cares for the well-being of her prospect. As an executive, she loves her company and insists on it doing well. As a chef, every creation is her own personal work of art. It’s never just a job; she really loves doing her best! With passion, comes a courage or boldness to persist where others might limit themselves.
- Personal enhancement – She is consistently improving herself. Like every world-class athlete, she knows that in order to be the best, she has to learn from others and practice, practice, practice!
- Action – While others may talk about things, she is able to get into action. Sure, she too identifies the same barriers that others might encounter, but she has the ability to push through those same barriers and get stuff done. Where others might give up and move on, she persists through the challenges and arrives at solutions.
Of course, this was never meant to be an exhaustive list. It was meant to be a list of criteria that any high achiever would quite likely score well against. Additional qualities like willingness to work with others, focus, tenacity, solution-orientedness and risk-taking appear to be by-products of the above more basic list.
Now, anyone reading the above (including me) may quite likely never permit themselves to be considered a high achiever if the above definition is anything to go by. Indeed, it is a mouthful. But don’t look at it in absolute terms. Instead, consider the above criteria as a scale with no one ever attaining the polar extremes. A high achiever tends toward the upper end of the scale most of the time. Moreover, the high achiever may not be a high achiever in every single one of his pursuits. The high achiever may well have moments, if not days or weeks, where he is agitated at his own lack of ability to stay true to the upper end of the scale. And thus begins the game of every high achiever in life – the game of trying to stay on top.
So why is my blog intended for high achievers? Well, simply put, high achievers are an easy audience. They are already on a quest for personal enhancement. They don’t need anyone to convince them why they should take some time out to improve their know-how. They listen to others with the intention of doing. These are not the “intellectuals” who simply know things for the sake of arguing about concepts. Because of this, high achievers are low maintenance. They are able to tell if a concept is valuable based on the real-life results it produces. If it produces results, they use it. If it doesn’t, they don’t waste a second on it – not even discussing it. They are onto the next thing that works.
Travelling across the Middle East and Africa in my job, I have the opportunity to work with many, many team members. There is nothing more rewarding for me personally than exciting and empowering those I work with toward goal attainment. I am lucky to be surrounded by several high achievers. It makes my work even more fulfilling.
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