The Overachiever's Dilemma

Great read. It conveys a very important point that so many of us have a hard time committing to in our busy lives. Success, as defined in our society, is fleeting and always leaves us craving for the next "something". Many of us spend the first halves of our lives aspiring for this false narrative of success. Driving at what we believe is the pinnacle of our professional and personal lives. It takes us about that much time to realize what we've been programmed to do will rarely leave us gratified. With this book, we can break and re-define true success. Beyond making a point we all intuitively know, CJ's shows a path to re-balance ourselves through his own experiences and tools he's created through coaching his clients. If you aren't smelling the roses, read this book.

The media could not be loaded.  This book resonated with me and came at the perfect time in my life. A friend who knew the author CJMcCalanahan suggested it. I felt like he wrote it just for me. It was reassuring to know I wasn't the only one who felt this struggle and there was another path to enjoy satisfaction.

This book is a very easy read and doesn't require a lot of time to get through. It's a great book that is filled with advice and great activities at the end of every chapter.

The Other Kind of Smart: Simple Ways to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence for Greater Personal Effectiveness and Success Here is the typical scenario. We work hard, sacrifice and tell ourselves that once we have achieved success we will slow down, smell the roses and enjoy the fruits of our labours. The problem is that the second part never happens. Instead of enjoying our success we are driven to even higher levels of achievement. We are on a treadmill of never enough without any way to get off. Sadly, it is often to late that we discover that we've missed the most important part of life, spending time with those we love the most. CJ McClanahan offers us a way to get off the treadmills. He gives us a new definition of success, "Success is....The extent to which I utilize my unique abilities, build meaningful relationships and enjoy the journey." The author knows of what he speaks. Having been on the overachiever treadmill himself, he shares his own journey and struggles in the book. Having escaped the achievement obsession he offers us excercises that we can do to discover our own unique abilites. I have personally found myself being caught up in the overachiever obsession and am grateful to CJ for putting out this powerful life altering message.

When the book was delivered, it came in a package with another item I ordered from Amazon. At first, I thought they hadn't sent the book because it's that small. It's this teeny tiny thing-- maybe 1/2-3/4 the size (in dimensions) of a real book and very slim. More of a booklet than a book. But I didn't want to judge a book by its cover, so I kept it and read it. Should've tried to return it.I was really hoping to have an "aha!" moment or at least feel like I learned *something* after reading this book, but it was a complete waste of money. It felt like this guy took some of his blog posts and stitched together a "book" so he could say he was an author. I should've done my due diligence and noticed that this was self-published but I was swayed by all the other good reviews. Bottom line: don't waste your money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - you know you’ve heard this stuff before. This time, the author explains it for us Type A, hard workers who are wondering what happened to make us this unfulfilled when we’ve done everything right! Read the book, then listen to the podcasts.

This book was handed to me at a pivotal point in life. It must have been my higher power looking out for me because I hadn't talked to the person that gifted it to me in months!As a highly successful and motivated exec at a company with >100k people faced with a major career choice-point this book and the author's point of view is going to directly impact the path I take forward.Thank you, CJ, for putting this down on paper, it's a fresh perspective and provides a unique way of looking at life, the consequences of decisions, and a criteria to interpret true success and whether one's own path is aligned to their true personal definition of success.

This book has been an amazing read, to say the least! CJ does a great job at giving real examples of people who although were very successful and made a lot of money throughout their careers, they did not feel satisfied overall. I have learned so much from this book, and even sent my copy to friend who is a CEO. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about becoming fulfilled with themselves, regardless of how much money they may be making at their job. - Chris Hollins | President & Co-Founder at TalentGrade.com

This book is a short but powerful read. It is aimed at overachievers - those who excel at what they do, but rarely take time to celebrate their achievements before setting a new goal.The author begins by dispelling the notion of comparing our achievements to others. By doing so, we'll never "win", only put more pressure on ourselves.The book then lays out a series of thought provoking chapters, each interspersed with the authors own personal (and sometimes hilarious) stories as an overachiever who has now seen the light.Each chapter finishes with a practical exercise that helps you work towards achieving the truly important things - such as building stronger relationships with those you love.This was a good read and a real wake up call for anybody who feels they are constantly moving from one challenge to another to try to get ahead in life.