I have identified as a high achiever my entire life, and for the most part, I love it.

Being a high achiever comes with a sense of accomplishment, drive, motivation, and a work ethic that allows me to keep going when most people quit.

But, being a high achiever comes with a few side effects.

Habits that become sins and can actually hinder your progress, and keep you stuck.

I have fallen into every single one of these traps but eventually learned how to use my high achiever tendencies to drive career growth without killing myself.

I want to share with you how you can do the same.

5 High Achiever Sins to Avoid

Sin #1: Perfectionism

Perfectionism impacts those who take pride in their work. It doesn't bother people who do the bare minimum.

Striving for perfection comes from a good place, but it can lead to over-analysis and hesitation and cost you hours that you could be putting into better use.

I used to fall into this trap often until one of my CEOs shared this advice:

Done is better than perfect.

Sometimes getting something out there is more important than getting it right. There is value in attention to detail, but at some point, it becomes diminishing returns.

How do you get over the desire to get things perfect?

I have a simple approach:

• Aim for 80%. Set the bar at “good enough” and focus on getting there.

• Set deadlines. Commit to delivering whatever you have when the time is up.

I’ve used this approach to release marketing campaigns, share content, and even build my programs and courses. I see making progress as a better outcome than perfect.

Sin #2: Reluctance to Delegate

This is what I call the “I can do it better and faster” syndrome.

If you’re a high achiever you can probably relate. Many high achievers avoid delegating out of fear that no one can live up to their standards.

I’ve made this mistake myself, especially early in my career when my team grew from 5 to 20 employees in a short period. Instead of training my new team members, I did the work myself, thinking it would be faster.

It was faster—but it also cost me my health. I worked 18-hour days, including weekends, to keep up. On the verge of exhaustion, I finally started delegating, and while the first few weeks of training were brutal, the long-term payoff was worth it.

How to let go of this trap:

• Change your expectations. Most people won’t do things exactly your way, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do them well.

• Focus on outcomes, not methods. Hire people you trust and give them the freedom to achieve results their way.

  
  

To become an executive, you need to let go of doing everything yourself. Your value comes from leveraging your team’s capacity, not your own.

BTW, I’ve dealt with this trap last year. After two years of doing everything myself, I realized I had to start hiring and delegating if I wanted my business to grow.

That’s how we grew 50% in 2024.

Sin #3: Assuming Recognition

High achievers often believe that hard work alone gets rewarded. That’s how it worked in school, but the corporate world plays by different rules.

You don’t get promoted simply for doing the work. If that were the case, every high achiever would already be a CEO. Expecting promotions based solely on achievements is unrealistic, and leads to disappointment.

I learned this lesson the hard way. After seeing colleagues who… How should I put it? Didn’t work as hard as I did to get promoted, and I realized something was missing.

My initial instinct was: “Just work harder” but I eventually figured it out.

Hard work isn’t enough—you have to make sure the right people know about it.

I struggled to take credit and share my wins at the beginning. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. But instead of quitting, I started advocating for myself in small doses.

I added one small win to my 1:1 agenda with my manager. I started every meeting with a success story.

Two things happened. First, I got better at advocating for myself without feeling guilty. And second, those wins started stacking up and got my manager’s attention.

Sin #4: Avoiding Risk

As a high achiever, I’ve always had a bad case of fear of failure.

With so much of my identity tied to achieving my goals, the thought of failing becomes terrifying.

I avoided risks for a long time, thinking I was protecting myself by avoiding opportunities with potential setbacks.

But the opposite was true. Staying where it was familiar and easy, kept me stuck.

Breaking into executive roles and growing your career requires you to take risks. You won’t get there by playing it safe. That means you have to accept failure as a part of your growth.

I convinced myself to embrace risks by changing how I talked about them in my head.

Instead of thinking “This next move is risky”, I ask myself: “How much will I learn?”

The bigger the risk, the bigger the opportunity to learn. And when you learn, you grow.

Sin #5: Overcommitting

One of the qualities high achiever are known for is their ability to do more.

I can work 15 and 18-hour days, push myself to run another mile, and add one more task to an already full calendar.

I can do hard things because I know they lead to achievements. But there is a downside to this kind of work ethic. Juggling too many tasks may result in burnout and compromised performance.

Just because we can do more, doesn’t mean we should.

Here’s how I approach it:

Instead of trying to give 100% of myself 24/7, I practice operating at peak performance. This approach means you work in bursts. You dedicate time to hard work and going all in, but instead of doing it all the time, you do it in intervals.

From the outside, it may seem like you are working less, but in reality, you get better results.

You can do more in 3 hours of focused work when you are at your best, than most people do in 8 hours of distraction and putting out fires.

The caveat? You need to learn how to prioritize your time, and how to say no to work that doesn’t serve you.

Your Next Steps

Being a high achiever has served me well in my career. It’s one of my greatest strengths when I use it wisely and avoid these traps.

If you’re guilty of these high-achiever sins, it’s time to make some changes.

You can level up without working 80/h weeks and burning out.

Take a long hard look at your habits, and ask yourself: Am I falling into these traps?

I believe in you, and I’m rooting for you.

Maya ❤️