High Achieving

First, stop and go read this:

12 Ways to Spot a High Achiever

The point of this post is NOT to criticize his article.

Instead, what if you're just starting out? How would you do these things? How would you know how to recognize the signs that either you're really one of these people (while containing your ego there, champ), or to direct yourself to become the person described here?

I suggest, if you’re just starting out:

1. Ask, ask, ask. Ask for what you want. This does not mean be pushy, it means learn the difference between what you want, what you need, and how to not be passive aggressive about the difference between the two.

2. Learn when to cut and run. There are times where it makes sense, strategically, to quit, but this doesn’t just apply to jobs. It can be people, equipment, projects, etc.

3. Accept the reality around you as fact, and find a way to define what you’d like to see. Knowing the difference between where you are and where you want to go, but clearly, is the first step. From here, you can make a list of steps to get yourself from-here-to-there.

4. Help others. I’m putting this last, even though it really is first, because until I learned how to ask for what I wanted, I couldn’t really help others, because I wasn’t sure if I was helping myself, since I didn’t know what I wanted.