Top 5 Internal Conflicts of a High-Achieving Woman

High-achieving women have an inner dialogue that seems to run on its own without much control. The biggest challenge type A personality women face is gaining control of the narrative inside their own heads.

Imposter Syndrome

High-achieving women constantly deal with the unsettling feeling that they are not ready for what they are doing. That somehow they achieved the success that they did by chance and not because it was deserved or earned. Imposter syndrome is the top culprit for unraveling self-confidence. High achievers often struggle with this especially when taking on anything new. It can feel like everyone in the room knows more and leave them with a feeling of uneasiness. Imposter syndrome can stop type A women in their tracks and hinder continued progress. When struggling with imposter syndrome it is common to suffer from procrastination, people-pleasing, and analysis paralysis.

People Pleasing

Pretty much everyone else benefits from this except the people-pleaser. High achieving women tend to struggle with validation—constantly seeking it from others and tying self-worth into it. This is a dangerous game to play because it means that their internal feelings of accomplishment and worth are reliant on others’ perception of them. People pleasing is the quickest way that type-A women burn out–at home, at work, or both. 

Asking For Help

Due to the high achiever’s tendency to people please that means they often struggle to ask for help when it is needed. Delegating tasks means they are letting go of control and that is immensely uncomfortable. High-achieving women put some heavy expectations on themselves to be able to know it all, figure it out, or not need help. The problem is that this leads to overcompensation. This will be seen at work by taking on too many projects to prove something or at home struggling with household tasks. At the end of the day, the mirage of the superwomen is an illusion and asking for help does not show weakness, but instead, it shows that they know when the limit is reached. 

Investing in their Own Health

Putting everyone else first is a common fault of almost every high-achieving woman. Everything else is a priority or a more pressing matter. This pattern is detrimental to long-term physical and emotional health. By placing their health on the back burner these high-achieving women struggle to manage stress, take care of themselves, and invest in things that relax and refill their cups. This is another one-way ticket to the burnout train.

Aiming for Perfection

Type A women have mastered the idea of perfectionism. The problem is it is exactly that—just an idea! There is no such thing as perfection. They could have always studied harder, practiced more, performed better, etc. By aiming for perfection high achieving women end up in analysis paralysis. They cannot move forward in their lives with dreams and goals because they spend so much time planning out all the minute details until it is perfect. 

It is important to address these internal conflicts as they inhibit personal growth, well-being, and a sense of fulfillment.