High Achieving & Performing Professionals
I’ve seen and been surrounded by high-achieving and performing, hyper-independent, and incredibly successful professionals. Whether in tech, business, healthcare, or start-ups, I’ve had the chance to support my clients with their well-being as they support others in professional settings.
If you’ve stumbled upon this page, you’re likely seeking emotional support and helpful skills to manage career or occupational-related stress.Perhaps you’ve felt stuck, discouraged, stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your work or role. You may want to make changes, but often feel defeated or unheard. You may identify with thoughts that you are not doing “enough,” which leaves you apathetic. You can resonate with the experience of guilt, pressure, and burnout as you constantly compare your current stage of your career to your peers or even the history of your job.As a client in my practice, you’ll receive inclusive, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive feedback and skills. As we build our professional relationship, I want you to feel comfortable so you can be honest and safe with your heavy and sometimes big, unpleasant feelings, defeating thoughts, and difficult experiences without judgment.
We work together to process your thoughts, examine thinking patterns or habits, occupational dynamics, and stressors, and allow room to accept things you cannot control. By discussing your experience through a culturally sensitive lens, you can gain a new sense of autonomy, empowerment, and a willingness to shift your narrative.
Because your story is unique, so we will work together to navigate treatment goals that can improve your quality of life. Many of my clients identify as start-up founders, high impact leaders and contributors in their organization, and overall driven, hardworking, and ambitious individuals who wonder how they long they continue this pace of work. Growing up in the Silicon Valley…
High-functioning anxiety is a term often used to describe individuals who experience persistent anxiety symptoms while still managing to meet the demands of everyday life. Individuals with high-functioning anxiety tend to maintain a high level of performance at work, in social situations, and historically in their academic lives.
They are often seen as high achievers, helpful, well-organized, detail-oriented, and driven; however, these positive traits can mask internal struggles. Because occupational spaces enable these patterns, the shift towards occupational stress to high-functioning anxiety is quiet and steady.
Suppose you struggle with your self-esteem tied to your achievements, consistent exhaustion from keeping up a “work persona”, self-doubt, and quiet impostor syndrome.
In that case, you may be struggling with High Functioning Anxiety. Despite appearing calm and collected on the outside, those with functioning anxiety may constantly battle self-doubt, restlessness, and a relentless need to stay productive.
Individuals with High-functioning Anxiety often relate to being extremely competent, effective, and typically referred to as a “high impact” contributor at work.
How can you sustain that while caring for your personal life?
Signs & Symptoms of High-Functioning Anxiety
Type-A: You feel a sense of urgency and are generally competitive with your past self or others.
Feeling lost without deadlines or structure: You may have difficulty switching off after work and have challenges keeping up with personal life, hobbies, interests, or social demands.
Over-commitment or people-pleasing: saying “yes” to requests to avoid disapproval or perceived judgment.
You may feel guilty for resting or have challenges relaxing. You deem your worth based on productivity and are often in “doing” mode.
Loud and pervasive inner-critics.
Constant “what-if” worry and mental rehearsal that keeps looping and internally spiraling, even when you’re outwardly calm and functioning.
Thoughts of Perfectionism are constant, and the fear of failure that fuels over-preparation, last-minute procrastination, or avoidance of taking on change or “risks”.
The Arrival Fallacy — ”I’ll be happy when… I’ll rest when…”
“I’ll be happy once I meet my goals” is a common thought among high achievers. This thought pattern is a psychological trap that keeps individuals robbed of the present moment and chasing the next thing on their to-do list. The reality is that once the goals are reached, the expected satisfaction or happiness is often short-lived or unfulfilling. In this quiet and cyclical cycle, individuals may operate autonomously and out of reactivity rather than with intention.
As a high performer, you may resonate with unrealistic expectations about the effects of “success” or productivity on your emotional well-being. Because society and occupational workforces may emphasize output, impact, and achievements, you may experience a skewed perception that happiness arrives only when goals are met.
Processing emotions, unconscious pressures, internalized expectations of living, and understanding the arrival fallacy allows individuals to have a healthier relationship with themselves and their lives. It all starts with acknowledging one's current stage and highlighting what may or may not be working. Let’s begin the journey to helping you live your life with intentionality.
By setting realistic goals and discovering sustainable ways to care for yourself, you will start to notice improvements in your connection to your occupational and personal life. We can improve cyclical dissatisfaction, build more restorative relationships with your goals, and even avoid burnout.
As you shift the fixation from the destination to the journey, you can discover joy and contentment in the present rather than constantly postponing happiness to future achievements or milestones.
Just because you are moving fast towards your goals does not mean moving at the appropriate speed or even in the right direction.
Contrary to belief, slowing down for reflection, acknowledgement, and compassion does not equate to complacency or laziness. Slowing down is a therapeutic skill that can help you become more aligned and self-aware of your goals and how to work and live with intention.
Therapist in Tech | Embedded onsite to help professionals
Understanding how your actions impact you and others.
Aligning choices with your professional values.
Accepting and welcoming feedback as an opportunity to grow.
Choosing to be present instead of being on autopilot in the workplace.
Establish a healthier work-life balance, find yourself outside of your life at work.
