Just in case you’re wondering on what authority I have to write about the “Achiever Lifestyle,” we’ll start at the beginning.

I imagine that your resume is much like mine. My guess is that you were in Gifted and Talented too. Just throwing it out there that you also made straight A’s. You probably also competed at a high level in some sport (mine was swimming). One big goal I set in the fall of 1990 (when Z. Cavaricci’s were cool), was to letter in band all four years so I did.

I graduated from the only school to which I applied (the only school I wanted to attend), Texas A&M. I got my Bachelor of Arts in journalism. My goal was never to become a reporter. I just wanted to know how to communicate. My thought process was that my employer could train me to do the job they hired me to do, but they would never have the time or resources to show me how to communicate with others.

My career includes time in Major League Baseball, higher education, trucking, healthcare, and children’s ministry. Each job was different but revolved around advertising, event planning or media relations. I have worked in the fourth largest city in the U.S., a mid-sized town in Arkansas, and a South Texas city. I was either getting promoted, being recruited away, or moving into different jobs for the challenge. I didn’t necessarily love all the roles I had, but I loved moving up and the external recognition from my bosses.

Achieving was how I rolled.

Let’s be clear: achieving is good. God designed achieving. In fact He says through Paul in Ephesians 2:10 that God planned things a long time ago for us to do.

Lest anyone get confused, I believe that doing things, actively participating in your life, and working hard are all good things. I am not advocating that we all quit our jobs, grow out our hipster beards, and only drink coffee.

I am advocating a healthy approach to achieving. But here’s the definition of unhealthy Achieving (always with a capital A):

Achieving is a mindset that says that my self-worth is tied up in what I do, how I much I do, how I do it all-by-myself, and how much better than you I do it.

Friends, this is where doing, participating, working… ahem, Achieving is dangerous. I knew that I was in a dangerous position when I was obsessed about the two pounds that clung to me after having two babies 17 months apart. After the Youngest, I had lost all the baby weight in eight weeks. My Achiever mindset was at work. It said, “Lose all the weight as quickly as humanly impossible!” Life, birthday cake, going-away parties and boredom eating added two pounds. Oh, the horror.

It was crazy to obsess over two pounds but I couldn’t stop thinking about knocking my body into submission. Because I knew it was crazy, I went to a counselor to talk about the fact that the thoughts refused to go away. I was so incredibly tired of thinking of those two pounds. I was so incredibly tired of being tired because I had two small children, I wasn’t sleeping well, and I still woke up at 5 a.m. to run. I was so incredibly tired of the expectation I had set for myself to be back to pre-baby, wedding-day weight.

In a counselor’s office at the age of 37, I experienced the God of grace. We’ll talk more later about this because we have all the time in the Internet to explore God’s amazing, boundless, inexhaustible grace. And these posts can only be so long.

But in the counselor’s office, I uncovered my Achievement problem and discovered God’s transformative grace.

God loves Achievers. He really truly does. I think He looks at us working so hard, gently caresses our head without messing up our perfectly messy-chic-beachy-wavy hair, and says,

I love that you are running around doing all the things, but what I really want is you. All of you. I love you for you. Because I am your Creator and it is my right to do so.

My God is good. He is holy. He loves Achievers. And this my sweet friend, means you.

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