The curse of the high achiever—and how it sabotages your grant writing

I’m sure it won’t surprise you one bit to learn that in my line of work (which is research grant consulting, FYI) I encounter a LOT of high achievers.

In fact if you’re reading this you’re probably a high-achiever yourself. (Hey, friend!)

Being a high achiever is a blessing and a curse, of course. 

The blessing is, well, achieving a lot of really cool things. 

The curse? WHEW. Let’s talk about it.

There’s an affliction that most high achievers suffer from. Tell me if this sounds familiar:

• Every time you try to take something off your plate, something else swoops in to fill it (either by accident or on purpose…because look at all the free time you have now!)
• You’re always asked to take on more because you’re so freaking good at what you do, and you always say yes (either because you feel guilty to say no or flattered to be asked)
• You’re so busy ticking off everyone else’s to-do list that your work happens on the weekends
• We’re still in the thick of a pandemic, so…there’s so much more and it’s so much harder

The consequence? It’s hard to focus when there are So.Many.Things to do. It’s hard to prioritize. It’s hard to get sh*t done.

This lack of focus really hurts your grant writing. 

Because listen: I know that YOU know that grant writing is important. But it’s never urgent…until it is. Right?

When you’re faced with a mountain of tasks, requests, and responsibilities it’s so easy to keep responding to what’s right in front of you. Those fires aren’t going to put themselves out.

What’s harder is keeping your eyes on the prize - putting in the work to help you achieve your longer-term goals. But trust me: it’s SO worth it.

Prioritizing and focusing on your goals is one of the pieces we work on in our K to R transition program for women faculty. If you're interested in learning more, please book a call with me (you'll be asked to fill out an application first).