Insecure Overachievers

Many of the professionals in the world are ‘insecure overachievers’: exceptionally capable and fiercely ambitious, but driven by a deep belief in their own inadequacy. Their ability and relentless drive to excel make them likely to succeed in the competitive environment of elite professional and financial firms, but the work culture is also taking advantage of their vulnerabilities.

Although successful City careers are associated with high salaries and eye-watering bonuses, the work culture can place excessive demands on many workers, and lead to break-downs, health problems and serious social damage for a significant number every year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswgl4


Insecure Overachievers PDF

to raise the bar
to ring a bell
to make a point of –ing
super-stressed
craze-hungry
to sandwich a chapter
to pick up on a chapter
to strike a chord
to collate the experiences of …
fiercely ambitious
exceptionally capable
driven by a sense of inadequacy
to unravel
serene
to doubt your work
to escape the cycle of anxiety
to become an academic
implausible
be induced to sth
to stay awake
extreme sleep deprivation
to trivialise sth
be at the beck and call of sm
to suppress your needs
fruits of sm’s endeavours
well-suited
an old mantra
to subjugate yourself to sm’s needs
to render a bill
a sense of fulfilment
complacent
to reframe sth
a relentless drive to excel
restless
to overcome an obstacle
internal competition
be pitched into competition
to design a culture
to pitch a deal
a villain
a peculiarity
to feel at ease
to pay a personal price
to sustain a quality of work
vulnerability
resilience
be toppled from your position
the performance culture
be under an illusion about sth
self-imposed
to sell your soul for money
dripping

Photo by Sylvain Mauroux on Unsplash