12 Mar 2014

Are you a High Achiever?

I met up with an old school friend at Christmas. We only manage to see each other once or twice a year as he lives in London and I still live on good old Teesside where we grew up together. A conversation we had really got me thinking and after seeing a related article in a magazine and having a change or circumstances in my own life I mulled over about what we'd discussed.


The day that we had met up, my friend had already visited another friend and they'd been discussing who the 'high achievers' were from school. I found it interesting that every person mentioned had moved to the city and now worked as a freelance writer,  was in a good position for ITV or was jet-setting around the globe. Admittedly these are fantastic achievements, especially when you consider how competitive the job market is these days, but when I thought about the other things in their lives (I only know because of Facebook) then the rest of their lives didn't seem quite as well-rounded. Again, I'm not saying that you need a partner to be happy, but I know at least one of them had a failed engagement so I figured that at least one of them did want more from that aspect of their lives. I suppose what I'm asking is: How do you classify a High Achiever?


Career -wise, I've hopped around a bit. Now at age 30 I've still never settled on one thing I've always wanted to do. I'm more a 'Mr Ben' type who would like to have lots of experiences until maybe one day I've found something I LOVE. I've worked in retail, pharmacy, admin and I've been self-employed and I've loved most of them for different aspect of each role. I must say at times I've been very envious of people who have always known what they've wanted to do, they've focused on getting there and they'll do this job until they retire. I suppose by 30 I expected to be on more money and a bit more settled than I am, but then every other aspect of my life is perfect and this year I'll be taking on my most challenging role yet - being a mammy! I've heard the pay is rubbish but the rewards are second to none ;)


I class myself as wage poor but experience and love rich and so I would class myself as a high achiever. Of course I'd love to be on more money but I wouldn't swap it for anything that I have in my life. I was lucky enough to meet my husband when I was 19 and we'll have been together 11 years this year. We're blessed enough to have a baby on the way and we work hard to have nice experiences and a beautiful home and are lucky enough to have amazing relationships with our families and friends. That's something all the promotions and money in the world can't earn you. So if I had that conversation again, I might argue that myself and other people in a similar position to me are also 'High Achievers' and need adding to that hallowed list for less obvious but equally as important success.