™
What is Achievement Addiction?
Achievement Addiction is characterized by a compulsive drive to chase achievement after achievement at the expense of health, sanity, and joy. Achievement addicts are typically highly accomplished successful individuals who are driven by an unshakeable belief that has them convinced that their very survival, along with any hope for happiness depends exclusively on their next achievement.
Achievement Addicts share the following common characteristics:
-
They feel exclusively defined by what they have achieved.
-
What they have achieved or accomplished is never good enough.
-
They are always looking for their next achievement to make them feel whole, happy, worthy, grounded, valued, and loved.
-
They compulsively compare themselves to others.
-
Failures, disappointments, and setbacks are crippling.
-
They define their self-worth, self-esteem, and value by their achievements.
-
They surround themselves with people and environments that demand they continue their achievement-addicted behaviors.
-
A life without “that next achievement” fills them with despair, confusion, or panic.
-
They believe that their achievements are what makes them worthy of love.
