Overachievement

Overachievers are individuals who "perform better or achieve more success than expected." The implicit presumption is that the "overachiever" is achieving superior results through excessive effort. In a teaching context, an "overachiever" is an educational label applied to students, who perform better than their peers when normalized for the instructor's perceptions of background, intelligence or talent. In the workplace context, individuals who are deemed to be overachievers are those with the drive to complete tasks above and beyond expectations and who set very high career goals for themselves. The opposite term is underachiever.

In an educational context, "overachiever" is defined as "a student who attains higher standards than the IQ indicated." Overachievers are generally contrasted with underachievers, who perform less well than the instructor thinks they should given their intelligence. An Encyclopedia of Psychology notes that “[g]enerally, these terms are not used by either educators or psychologists.” While the concept of over- and underachievers has wide acceptance among practicing teachers, it remains a controversial topic on several points:

A 2007 book about overachievement describes the "cult of overachieving that is prevalent in many middle- and upper-class schools", in which "students are obsessed with success, contending with illness, physical deterioration." "When teenagers inevitably look at themselves through the prism of our overachiever culture," the author writes, "they often come to the conclusion that no matter how much they achieve, it will never be enough.""

For college and university students, "there is a fine line between being a high achiever and an overachiever." In the US, "an increasing number of college students are literally making themselves sick in the pursuit of perfection", by setting "self-imposed but unrealistically high standards." According to Dr. Modupe Akin-Deko, senior psychologist at Buffalo State College's counseling center, "… maladaptive perfectionists set themselves up for failure by setting impossible standards for themselves, thus lowering their self esteem when they never reach their goals." Clinical psychologist Marilyn Sorenson, in her book Breaking the Chain of Low Self-Esteem, maintains that people with low self-esteem often find themselves driven to overachieve to build self-worth.

In the workplace, "overachievers have the drive, determination, passion, and energy needed to move huge projects forward." "Overachievers increasingly take on new projects and drive themselves to perfection, often becoming known as 'workaholics'." For workplace overachievers, "completing tasks above and beyond expectations provides the same physical and mental high as a drug." However, managers need to deal with the negative side of the overachiever personality: the overachiever employee may "set unrealistic expectations, work insane hours, and take risks to succeed at any cost", which can lead the employee to "become obsessed, dysfunctional, and ultimately unable to perform." Other issues with overachievers are that they "… typically forget to communicate vital information, often take shortcuts, and leave the details to someone else." As well, overachievers often "have difficulties interacting socially" and they are "at high risk for burnout".

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Wikipedia