Strength #4: Achiever

Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day – workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.

To-do-lists. To-do-lists. To-do-lists. I always have at least one. Sometimes they're written down. Most of the time, they are just in my head. Stuff I wanna get done. I only write them down if they are so long I'm afraid I might forget an item. An item on my to-do-list might be as small as sew a button back on my shirt (which is, in fact, on my to-do-list in my head) or as large as complete my semi-annual ironing-athon (I hate ironing clothes so it seems like I only do it every 6 months - if that frequent; that's another one currently on my lists). If I don't tick one thing off my never-ending to-do-list on any given day it is a day wasted in slothful laziness and I feel worthless because of it! And it's true for vacations too! There are things I wanna see and do when I'm vacationing - that's why I'm vacationing!! And then there are THE BIG accomplishments on my horizon. For the first several years of my career since graduating from college I've taken on new responsibilities at work and obtained a promotion each year...well, now I'm in a position where I need to stay for a while and get more experience before I feel like I'd qualify for another promotion - because promotion from here is management. So, I've decided I can focus on other BIG goals outside of work.... so... within the next 2 years at least one of the following things must happen: buy a house/townhome/condo, start grad school to get my MBA, and/or move to Seattle.