From Overdrive To Coasting

O.K. Now I'm going to hang crepe on the discussion. Let me tell u that I didn't find ANYTHNG funny about this article since I "know" it to be true. I've been married to one for over 40 yrs. & he comes from a family of the same. This behavior also facilitates the disease of alcoholism & God Bless AA & Alanon for their insight into this damning behavior. Yes, he's retired, but after a short month, he's back selling cars after a high, corporate job with all the attended pressure. I've gotten ued to it & being an only child, I really do love the privacy time alone. But his behavior still affects me when he's doing things all the time & because of medical infirmities, I can't keep up with him. Heck, I can't even walk with him as he is always 4 steps ahead of me. My final comment is that after reading the article, & getting to the end, I almost had a "cow" when I read where the author was from. I spend 35 yrs. in the God-forsaken part of the country where people mow their grass vertically, horizontially & diagnonally, actually sweep up the road dirt into little piles for the street cleaners, & sit on the curb trimming their garass between the sidewalk & road with a pair of sissors. And this is the tip of the iceberg. Thank God for retirement! .

This is a great essay! Very funny but also makes a good point. Do we want to pressure kids to value success above all else? I don't think so. Great piece!

This was a great piece. Congratulations. I thought it was hilarious and also made a good point. Do we really want to push kids into this kind of frenzied race for accomplishment? I don't thinks so!

Kathy Connors does a great job of describing the quintessential "plight" of the aging overachiever. Being a self-defined overachiever myself, I would say affectionately it "takes one to know one," and her description of how highly-driven individuals think and act is spot on. As a professional career/life coach for overachievers, my clients would agree that they place a lot of pressure on themselves to achieve and be "perfect" and have equally high expectations even as they age. - Lee Knight, www.overachievercoach.com, http://overachievercoach.blogspot.com
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I agree with "Articles247 ". Ms. Connors does not have a narcissistic personality. Why would you demonize someone because they didn't use their talent or skills for volunteer work? And, how do you know that she hasn't volunteered in the past and just didn't mention it? I am an overchiever and I have done charitable work and made many charitable donations, but I never publicize in any form to make myself look better. That is just tacky to me. So maybe she just has more class than you Mr. Judgemental.

It would be so nice if this self-promoting "overachieving" woman would devote her languishing energies into things like ESL teaching, pro-bono legal support for poor people, or Habitat for Humanity volunteer work, all skills she professes to have. Her bragging comments indicate that she has the skill to do all this, but her narcissictic personality probably precludes this from happening. This is such a shame. Lots of good people share their talents and experiences in their older years, and do good volunteer work. I doubt this woman will be one of those. Volunteering to help your local community, using the skills you have, its just such a good thing to do...

This is ridiculous! This is an amazing article!! If you don???t ???get it??? then that is fine! That???s because you are not an overachiever. Not being an overachiever is not at all a bad thing. ???Over??? is the key word here. You can be an achiever and be wonderful, but being an ???overachiever??? is a curse. My mother, stepmother, father, grandfather, brother, and so many more in my life are overachievers. Everyone else I include in my life is a normal achiever. If you don???t understand any of this then that???s because you are just lazy! Never in this article does it say that overachievers are better than anyone else. She is not ranting and raving about how much better she is than you! Her last name means nothing here. It has nothing to do with the point of the article. It deals with a group of people out there, overachievers. Get over it. There are more important things out there to ???comment??? on with negativity, but this is not one of them. ???My Turn??? is a place for everyday people to publish their articles. The people hired at Newsweek are very intelligent and are able to decide which articles are worthy to publish that week. They get around 200 submissions a week to be publish in that section, they choice hers, so get over it. It???s a very interesting and well written article. I, and I hope the rest of you unless you can be positive, am going to leave it at that.

This is ridiculous! This is an amazing article!! If you don???t ???get it??? then that is fine! That???s because you are not an overachiever. Not being an overachiever is not at all a bad thing. ???Over??? is the key word here. You can be an achiever and be wonderful, but being an ???overachiever??? is a curse. My mother, stepmother, father, grandfather, brother, and so many more in my life are overachievers. Everyone else I include in my life is a normal achiever. If you don???t understand any of this then that???s because you are just lazy! Never in this article does it say that overachievers are better than anyone else. She is not ranting and raving about how much better she is than you! Her last name means nothing here. It has nothing to do with the point of the article. It deals with a group of people out there, overachievers. Get over it. There are more important things out there to ???comment??? on with negativity, but this is not one of them. ???My Turn??? is a place for everyday people to publish their articles. The people hired at Newsweek are very intelligent and are able to decide which articles are worthy to publish that week. They get around 200 submissions a week to be publish in that section, they choice hers, so get over it. It???s a very interesting and well written article. I, and I hope the rest of you unless you can be positive, am going to leave it at that.

To all that have responded. you do not know this person. I happen to know this person well. If you knew this person then you would have better things to comment on. Freedom of speech is just that, this person is expressing that right. Reading this article was infuriating. I happen to know a lot about this persons life and do not comment using her last name. it is a disgrace to the family name. i ask you please do not use the family name.

I know her stop talking trash. its not worth your comments, if you knew her you would have better things to talk about. this is a poor article in news week. if you know her then you can comment. obviously no one who has written knows her. she is not an over achiever, it is not complaining, do not give her the satifaction of being able to go back to her fantasy life. all of your comments are aimed at the wrong person, aim them at kathy not the Connors NAME. More importantly aim them at NEWSWEEK.

Good grief people. Get a life! Complaining about someone else's amazing achievements only makes you look like a jealous, lazy person, whose greatest feat is putting dinner on the table! Not many people tackle law school, running their own company and raising children on their own. Take Connors' article for what it is; a funny reminder that life is short- go hard or go home. And more importantly, stop complaining!

Thanks. Reading this annoyed me and therefore perked me up on a dreary Friday afternoon.

Connors reminds me that life is short -- and getting shorter for us baby-boomers. Will there ever be enough time to do all my "future" projects? No. But the only way that I can even attempt to throw stuff out is when my sister admonishes me "Your kids don't want and don't care about your stuff." Thanks, Connors, for reminding me to...Work Faster!!!

You have to be an overachiever to get this one -- I loved it!

A total waste of time,and of valuable magazine space...

Waste of my time,and magazine's space!!!

That was lame. Tell her I don't care how she wastes her time.