Books about Overachievers from Amazon.com

"You can't just be the smartest You have to be the most athletic, you have to be able to have the most fun, you have to be the prettiest, the best dressed, the nicest, the most wanted. You have to constantly be out on the town partying, and then you have to get straight As. And most of all, you have to appear to be happy." -- CJ, age seventeen High school isnt what it used to be. With record numbers of students competing fiercely to get into college, schools are no longer primarily places of learning. Theyre dog-eat-dog battlegrounds in which kids must set aside interests and passions in order to strategize over how to game the system. In this increasingly stressful environment, kids arent defined by their character or hunger for knowledge, but by often arbitrary scores and statistics. In The Overachievers, journalist Alexandra Robbins delivers a poignant, funny, riveting narrative that explores how our high-stakes educational culture has spiraled out of control. During the year of her ten-year reunion, Robbins returns to her high school, where she follows students including CJ and others: -- Julie, a track and academic star who is terrified she's making the wrong choices -- "AP" Frank, who grapples with horrifying parental pressure to succeed -- Taylor, a soccer and lacrosse captain whose ambition threatens her popular girl status -- Sam, who worries his years of overachieving will be wasted if he doesnt attend a name-brand college -- Audrey, who struggles with perfectionism, and -- The Stealth Overachiever, a mystery junior who flies under the radar. Robbins tackles hard-hitting issues such as the student and teacher cheating epidemic, over-testing, sports rage, the black market for study drugs, and a college admissions process so cutthroat that some students are driven to depression and suicide because of a B. Even the earliest years of schooling have become insanely competitive, as Robbins learned when she gained unprecedented access into the inner workings of a prestigious Manhattan kindergarten admissions office. A compelling mix of fast-paced storytelling and engrossing investigative journalism, The Overachievers aims both to calm the admissions frenzy and to expose its escalating dangers..
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Welcome to Army Triathlon swim training Meet this group of overachievers and take advantage of their Overachiever's Diary, including the same proprietary online speed and efficiency assessment Cadets take to measure their improvement. Overachiever's Diary chronicles the team's triathlon swimming journey and, for the first time, all athletes can benefit from the unique style of coaching motivation, and analysis that has bee developed in real-time with this dedicated group of America's athletes. Sometimes the right combination of people come together and magic happens. This happened in the '06-'07 Army Tri season, and the magic has carried over to '07-'08 when this West Point club team, led by dedicated officers, will once again be out to surprise competitors and take the accolades that others assumed were theirs to keep. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book and other Overachiever's Diary products is allocated to the West Point Tri Team in an effort to ensure that future cadets will have the opportunity to confront the challenges, personally and as a team, that triathlons uniquely provide..
Price: $13.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Learn to live with God instead of for God.

Sometimes the only way to get a new life is by running your old one completely into the ground.

Fil Anderson had accomplished more for God than most of his contemporaries, but his worn-out body housed an empty soul. His frenetic pace of ministry had earned him just one thing: greater pressure to do even more. He had fallen for the soul-killing lie that doing more for God would give his life meaning. Then the godly admonition of a spiritual director set this burned-out believer on a life-saving spiritual path.

This powerful story of a reawakened soul can be the story of every person who has pursued spiritual productivity over intimacy with God and come up empty. It’s the story of reclaiming your soul and finding a home in the center of God’s relentless love. It’s the journey from self-importance to God-importance.

The solution is not greater achievements for the kingdom of God. It’s time to stop living for God and start living with God.

In this candid and achingly authentic book, Fil Anderson shares the healing insights that restored his spiritual compass and guided him back to God … the God who specializes in filling empty souls.

“To the harried and the unharried, I pray that this book will minister to your heart in the profound way that it has blessed mine.” —Brennan Manning


From the Hardcover edition..
Price: $4.80 [Notify me when price goes down.]

For some women, success is a relative term. One in six women is an overachiever, constantly striving to do more, better, faster, and look fabulous at all times--so if you are looking around the room at your five closest friends thinking they're all slackers, it's you! You know who you are: the successful woman who feels competitive with her own friends and family members; the stick-thin athlete who won't stop working out; the guilt-ridden executive who always feels she has to do more than others to stay ahead; the grown-up "Little Miss Perfect" who can't stop being the Stepford wife and mother. No matter how hard you try, no matter how much you achieve, your life remains totally out of balance. Achievements should not be the total measure of how a woman feels about herself.

Syndicated radio talk-show host Cooper Lawrence has been there. With humor and compassion, she helps readers assess the overachiever's goals, their states of mind, the pressure from their families . . . and lets them know it's not a bad thing to be an overachiever--some people are just born that way! Cooper's book defines the physical and emotional effects of someone who suffers from the big "O," explains why she does it, and offers a reality check and advice on creating balance. With common sense and "Tales from the Treadmill" case studies, this book explores the best ways to do it all and still achieve real success--self-acceptance.

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The 90-minute guide to achieving peak performance .
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The Man Who Mistook His Job for a Life is a clever play on the title of an Oliver Sacks book from several years back in which the clinical neurologist and bestselling author poignantly describes 24 astonishing perceptual aberrations that cause victims to experience life in striking ways. Under this apt paraphrase, literary agent Jonathon Lazear describes how American males are increasingly finding their own perceptions altered as they subjugate their personal lives to their professional ones. Lazear candidly discloses how he once let his own work rule his existence, tracing a trajectory from a workaholic father through an early career in the time-demanding publishing industry and an eventual role as head of his own company. He tells how he became "stretched to the limit" while bringing home a seven-figure income--and, as a result, "emotionally distant" from the family he loved. He then offers a series of suggestions (i.e., Acknowledge That You're Not Perfect, Reset Your Work Clock, Start Small, Stay Positive) to help others similarly afflicted develop a more well-rounded presence. This is one of several recent books aimed at slowing society's hectic pace, although it may be the first aimed exclusively at men and the related gender-specific problems they face. --Howard Rothman.
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The desire to achieve is a major source of strength in business, and it is on the rise. The authors' consulting firm has seen a steady increase in the extent to which achievement motivates managers. There's a dark side to the trend, however. By relentlessly focusing on tasks and goals, an executive or company can damage performance. Overachievers tend to command and coerce, stifling subordinates. Psychologist David McClelland identified three drivers of behavior: achievement, meeting a standard of excellence; affiliation, maintaining close relationships; and power, having an impact on others. He said the power motive comes in two forms: personalized, in which the leader draws strength from controlling people, and socialized, where the leader derives strength from empowering people. Studies show that great charismatic leaders are highly motivated by socialized power. To look at how motives and leadership style affect a group's work climate and performance, the authors studied 21 senior managers at IBM. The leaders who created high-performing and energizing climates got more lasting results by using a broad range of styles, choosing different ones for different circumstances. Rather than order people around, they provided vision, sought buy-in and commitment, and coached. If you're an overachiever seeking to broaden your range, you can study your actions and ask your team, peers, and manager to give you honest feedback. You can adopt specific new behaviors, such as engaging your team in a discussion of how to achieve goals, rather than issuing a set of directives. The company as a whole can play a part, too: Organizations must learn when to draw on the achievement drive and when to rein it in..
Price: $6.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This article covers Overachiever: A person whose performance disproportionately exceeds ability; academically, a student, whose academic achievement disproportionately exceeds his or her performance on standardized intelligence tests.

The article is excerpted from Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. This single-volume, accessible resource covers the entire spectrum of psychology, including: notable people, theories and terms; landmark case studies and experiments; applications of psychology in advertising, medicine and sports; and career information. More than 650 articles -- 65% of those are entirely new or updated since the last edition. Each article ranges from 25 to 1,500 words, covering the topics researchers want to know about, including:
Abnormal psychology
Bipolar disorder
Dyslexia
Sigmund Freud
Insomnia
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
Unconscious motivation
And hundreds more

In addition to more that 175 photographs, charts and graphs, students will also find a new glossary of over 350 terms, an updated organizations list and an updated and expanded index.

Published/Released: October 2000.
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