10 Weird Signs You’re a High Achiever

About a year ago, I decided to stop procrastinating. 

I was like, “I wonder how much better I’ll feel when I just do the things I keep putting things off!”

• If I needed to get gas, I wouldn’t wait until the next day (even though I HATE GETTING GAS)

• If I needed to send an email to my kids’ school? I’d just send it. 

• If I needed to run by UPS (also hate), I’d do it on my way to my daughter’s dance class.

Sooooo….This should be the part where I tell you how my life dramatically improved and I was suddenly stress-free and glowing with productivity

But that didn’t happen.

Sure, I felt productive. And that was cool for about five minutes.

But the mental space that opened up when I stopped thinking, “I should really do that one annoying thing” was instantly filled with “Don’t forget to do these 10 other annoying things!”

Because that’s how a high-achiever brain works.
You can cross off every item on your to-do list, and your mind just adds 12 more.

It’s not that you love stress (though you might be addicted to it).
It’s that your brain is wired for more. More goals, more effort, more proving, more achieving.

So if you’ve ever wondered, “Am I just ambitious… or am I a walking anxiety machine?”

Here are 10 weird signs you’re a high achiever (and maybe, just maybe, why you’re always a little tired).

10 Weird Signs You’re a High Achiever

1. You’re low-key competing with everyone.

I have to be careful when I ride my peloton because I will KILL MYSELF to pass people on the leader board. I’ll be all, “I’m going to take it easy today” and then 5 minutes later, “I’m coming for you Susan845.” Full-on sweating and dying. 

You know you’re not in a race, but you kind of are.  

Someone posts a career win on LinkedIn, and suddenly you’re rethinking your entire life plan. 

You don’t want to beat people, exactly… you just want to be the best.

The competition isn’t always external, either. You’re also competing with past you, future you, and the hypothetical you who “should’ve achieved more by now.”

2. You’re driven by “not good enough.”

You don’t chase goals for the thrill of success.
You chase them because success (let’s be honest, not just any success - perfection) is the only time you feel okay.

But chasing perfection is like chasing the horizon. The closer you get to it, the more it moves away.

When you achieve something, the high lasts maybe five minutes before your brain whispers, “Okay, now what?”

It’s not that you don’t appreciate your wins. It’s that your brain instantly resets the bar.

So no matter how much you achieve, peace always stays just out of reach.

3. Rest feels like a waste of time.

You joke that you’re bad at relaxing (which might actually be true). But honestly? You don’t see the value in it. It seems…frivolous.

You associate stillness with falling behind. 

So you fill every quiet moment with something productive. Like reorganizing your inbox, folding laundry, mentally rehearsing tomorrow’s to-do list. 

The irony? You’re exhausted, but rest doesn’t feel restful. It feels like guilt with an anxiety chaser.

4. Mediocre performers make your eyelid twitch.

You don’t understand people who phone it in. How can they just…slack off? WTF?

You’re wired to overdeliver - which is great until it turns into simmering resentment that everyone else is doing the bare minimum. 

Here’s the catch: you hold yourself to a standard no one asked for. 

And while you’re silently fuming about everyone else’s mediocrity, you’re quietly burning yourself out trying to make up the difference.

5. You’re great at everything except enjoying it.

You achieve. You check the box. You move the goalpost. Repeat. 

There’s always another milestone, another “next level.” 

You’ve built a life full of things you once wanted, but you’re too busy chasing what’s next to actually enjoy any of it. 

You tell yourself you’ll relax and feel good after the next big win…except that moment never comes. You’re great at progress, but lousy at presence.

6. You overcomplicate everything.

Here’s a little glimpse into my brain - a while back I decided to add a PDF for executive coaching requests to my website. Simple, right?

Except when I finished, I was like, “I should write an email to send the PDF.”

Then I thought, “It’s weird to have this on my regular service page, I should create an executive coaching page.”

But when that page was created, I was like, “It’s weird to have an executive coaching page and not have pages for career coaching or burnout coaching.”

Two days later, I had a PDF, email template, and three more full pages on my website. And all the other things I’d planned to get done were collecting dust.

So, I get it - What could be a simple two-step process turns into a 12-tab operation. 

You call it being thorough. Really, it’s perfectionism in a power suit. 

You crave control. And building MORE is how you try to feel calm. It’s productive, sure, but not always in the best way.

7. You secretly envy people who don’t care as much.

I was standing in a mile-long line at the Starbucks in Terminal C at the Denver International Airport, watching the workers move without an ounce of hustle.

I was disgusted and…impressed. 

After all, I get stressed when someone’s behind me at Kroger as I frantically try to unload my cart, pay, and bag my own groceries all at the same time. 

The non-hustlers? You’d never be one of them (you have standards) but still… wouldn’t it be nice to not take everything so seriously? 

You envy people who half-ass their way through life and seem oddly at peace. 

You assume they’re lazy, but deep down, you know they’re just not tying their self-worth to their output. And maybe, just maybe, they’re onto something.

8. You’re unimpressed when things feel easy.

Ease feels suspicious. 

If something comes naturally, you assume it’s not worth much. 

You’re addicted to the grind, the challenge, the proving. You believe success must be earned through struggle, which means anything that doesn’t feel hard feels “too easy to count” or you “could’ve done more.”

You’ve trained yourself to see friction as value. And rest, joy, or flow as cheating.

9. You think productivity is a personality trait.

You’ve built an identity around being the reliable one. The one who fixes, remembers, follows up, gets it done. 

You’re proud of that. Until you start noticing something: not everyone works this hard.
Some people do half as much and still get praised (or worse - promoted). 

Meanwhile, you’re quietly drowning in responsibilities you never technically agreed to. 

You call it being dependable, but underneath it all? You’re resentful. 

Because deep down, you know productivity doesn’t always equal recognition. It just equals more work.

10. You can’t turn it off.

Even when you’re off the clock, your brain isn’t.

You’re mentally drafting emails in the shower, solving problems while trying to fall asleep, and “relaxing” with one eye on your to-do list. 

You tell yourself it’s drive. But it’s also fear. 

Because when you stop doing, you have to sit with yourself. And that’s way harder than crossing one more thing off the list.

What to Do When Your Ambition Starts Working Against You

If you read this list and saw yourself in, like, most of them… congratulations, you’re a classic high achiever.

You’ve built your success on drive, grit, and an intolerance for mediocrity. And it’s worked. 

But it’s also left you tired, resentful, and constantly chasing peace like it’s another item on your to-do list.

The good news? You don’t have to stop being ambitious to stop feeling exhausted. You just need a new way of working that doesn’t run on guilt, caffeine, and proving yourself.

That’s where I come in. I help high-achievers (like you) create success that actually feels good , without losing your edge.

Book a free consult and let’s get you focused, fulfilled, and a whole lot less fried, without sacrificing your ambition.

Keep Reading: Other Posts You Might Like

• Quiet Cracking: The Silent Burnout Trend High Achievers Need to Know About – When you look fine on the outside but feel like you’re falling apart inside.

• Burned Out or in the Wrong Job? How to Tell the Difference (and What to Do About It) – Not sure if you’re exhausted or misaligned? This post helps you figure it out.

• Stop Multitasking: How to Focus on One Thing and Get More Done – Why “doing it all” is killing your focus (and how to fix it).

• Career Gaslighting: Convincing Yourself You Should Love a Job That’s Draining You – How to stop blaming yourself for hating work that doesn’t fit.

FAQs About High Achievers

Q: What does it mean to be a high achiever?
A: A high achiever is someone who’s driven by high standards, internal pressure, and a desire to excel — often to the point of exhaustion. You’re motivated, responsible, and goal-oriented, but that drive can easily turn into stress, perfectionism, and burnout if you never slow down.

Q: How do I know if I’m a high achiever or just ambitious?
A: Ambitious people pursue goals because they want success. High achievers pursue goals because they need success to feel okay. If you’re never satisfied, constantly raising the bar, and struggle to relax even after a win, you’re probably in high-achiever territory.

Q: Why do high achievers struggle with burnout?
A: Because you don’t have an “off” switch. You push through fatigue, pile on responsibilities, and think rest is optional. Over time, your body and brain can’t keep up with the pressure — leading to resentment, exhaustion, and that “I’m fine” autopilot mode.

Q: How can high achievers recover from burnout without losing their edge?
A: You don’t have to choose between ambition and balance. Start by setting boundaries around your time and energy, learn to rest like it’s a skill (because it is), and redefine success so it’s not built on overwork. A coach can help you make that shift without losing what makes you exceptional.

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Hi! I’m Erica

Licensed psychotherapist. Corporate dropout. Wife to Brendan. Mom to twins + one. ADHDer. Slow runner. Coffee drinker. Swear words enthusiast.

I know exactly what it’s like to have a life that looks successful on the outside but feel chronically exhausted, frustrated, and completely lost on the inside.

I help underachieving high-achievers create lives and careers they love, without burning out.

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