Aligned Achievement

Small note - I had some editing challenges so there's no intro for this episode! I hope you enjoy this one.

This episodes covers the ways in which your social groups (professional and personal) can have a profound impact on your trajectory. It's natural for us to gather and socialize, but it's important to ensure that what you're getting from those interactions supports your growth rather than stagnation.

Listen for the major things to be aware of and suggestions for how to handle tendencies that limit your potential.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

Do you feel as if you're always getting ready to be ready?

Do you overthink, overanalyze and generally try to "perfect" something before you take action?

It's tempting to think you must have every detail, answer, and concern addressed before you initiate something new, but the reality is that this approach can be a form of self-sabotage that keeps you stagnant.

There are two main conditioning challenges to be aware of when you're stuck in the preparation phase or when battling analysis paralysis. This podcast episode explores these challenges with concrete examples and offers tools for overcoming the conditioning blocks that keep you spinning your wheels rather than moving forward.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

Understanding the difference between self-confidence (knowing your sh*t) and self-worth (knowing your value) is critical to your ability to show up in the world authentically.

As a Type A, high-achieving personality, you may be highly self-confident (and for good reason), but the sneaky part of self-confidence is that it involves a feedback loop of validation and recognition from others. While this is an important part of building appreciation of your abilities, it is *not* the same as having a fundamental sense of self-worth, which makes it possible - even likely - that despite being confident, your sense of your inherent value could use some work.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

Do you tell yourself that certain conditions need to be met before you can take steps toward a particular goal or intention? If you regularly engage in thinking like "When x occurs, then I'll do y," that's a red flag that you are potentially sabotaging yourself without being conscious of it.

High achieving individuals are conditioned to put work ahead of everything and make promises to themselves that eventually the time will be right to put energy and effort toward other priorities. This is actually not the case as your conditioning will keep you trapped in the cycle of keeping work in the ultimate position of priority, even when it's depleting and stressful to continue doing so. Perfectionist tendencies and fear of failure play a critical role in this cycle, as well, and it's important to identify whether those factors play a role so you can be aware and make different decisions in the moment when the opportunity arises.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

Fear is a commonly discussed topic in personal development (as it should be), but trite advice and clichés like "feel the fear and do it anyway!" dismiss the very real and important role it plays.

Fear is critical to our survival and for that reason needs to be taken seriously. It's key evolutionary purpose is to ensure we live to fight another day, However, for many of you listening, your survival needs are covered and it's thriving that's the challenge. In this episode, we will take a deeper look at the fear that comes with taking healthy risks, and how to assess and overcome fear in that context.

Topics covered:

• The role of the ego and why you need it
• The inevitability of fear
• Questions to ask yourself as you assess your fears
• The three illusions fueled by fear and how to shift your perspective on their meaning

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

When you're ready for a shift in your experience, the process of making change can be daunting. There are a lot of reasons for this, but one of the main reasons is that when we start to think about what needs to change, the list can be overwhelming. You get to thinking about work, your personal life, your health, your mental state, and it's like hot mess central where you have no freaking clue where to begin, or even HOW to begin.

The good news is that what feels like hundreds of different things boils down to handful of tendencies that you'll begin to see more clearly as you tune into one small thing at a time to address. It's through small changes that you can see massive results, but the key is to understand where your conditioning is working against you so you know specifically what needs to shift.

In order to make that easier, this episode discusses the 4 challenges common to success conditioning.

1. Proving yourself
2. People-pleasing
3. Conforming/emulating
4. Tying your value to what you earn

Conditioning in these areas can lead you to seek confirmation of your worth through external sources, but no amount of external validation can ever fill the internal void of not truly knowing your value.

Are you facing any of these challenges? Listen to gain clarity and tips for moving forward.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

As a high achiever, it's easy to be stuck in your conditioning and listening to the voice inside you that tells you what you "should" be doing. When I had the personal recognition that much of my life was being driven by external expectations, it was eye-opening to realize that as contrary and cynical as I can be, I was basically doing what I was told. More accurately, I was doing what I'd been taught to do through success and achievement conditioning.

Well. F all of that. That's a one-way ticket to feeling stuck, trapped, and resigned in ways that suck the life out of you.

When you tell yourself what you "should" be doing, it's a red flag. It means:

• You're acting from a sense of duty and obligation
• You're getting ready to do something that is out of alignment with what you would choose to do
• Your conditioning is dictating what needs to happen next rather than you deciding from a place of clarity

This is a tricky place to operate from. On the one hand, you're prioritizing the needs and expectations of others above your own and you may get the quick payoff of making the other person (or system) happy. On the other hand, the more you do what you don't want to do, the more that thing you don't want to do is expected of you.

You can shift out of this energy relatively quickly by making baby steps in a different direction. If that resonates, this episode is for you.

*This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement! Just an FYI that the intro reflects the previous name.

Do you ever worry that you're "too much"? That people will be put off by your opinion, how you show up, or even who you are?

Here's the thing about worrying you're too much and showing up in a muted way - it sucks. It just does. No one is moved by neutrality. In fact, neutrality is boring and we don't gravitate toward it. Consider something you love. Maybe it's a band, a type of music, a movie, whatever.  Do you love it because it's middle of the road and everybody likes it? Of course not. In fact, it's highly likely you love it because it isn't those things, and it's equally likely others don't care for it at all. 

Nothing is for everyone. Imagine how the world would look if the people that created the things we love decided "Oh, I would do that but someone may not like it therefore I should hide and not put it out there." It's not that those people don't consider the possibility of rejection. Of course they do. 

But they don't let it stop them. 

If you struggle to show up authentically because you're worried about how you'll be received, or if you've avoided creating something for the same reason, this episode is for you. Authenticity doesn't come with rainbows and sunshine. It's disruptive. It's polarizing. It's also incredibly mentally freeing and empowering. 

Ready to show up for real?

**This podcast has been renamed to Aligned Achievement, the podcast for growth-oriented, high-achieving individuals ready to initiate radical change in life and work. This episode is highly relevant to those looking for content related to the intersection between business, mindset, and spirituality.

This is the introductory episode of Musings of a High Achiever, the podcast for people who identify as type A, driven personalities who are interested in deepening their self-awareness. This episode discusses the conditioning that high achievers are susceptible to, the professional dissatisfaction that led Maki to go on a deep personal development journey, and how what she discovered along the way applies to other high achievers who want to release the burden of the expectations of others to live life on their own terms.

When you're ready for a change, you might feel crazy. Are you insane to want something different for your life when you have it good already? Nope. Success that's created based on someone else's expectations and not your own can never be truly fulfilling. The point of this first episode is not only to introduce you to the premise of the show, but also to give you permission to want something different. To see yourself reflected in someone else's experience in a way that is validating, and perhaps galvanizing. Are you ready to go deep?