Let's get over overachieving together.
Recovering Overachiever Club is a 3-week deep dive into why we strive and what we can do differently in the new year. Join us November 29-December 20 for exclusive essays, podcast episodes, and conversation—oh, and earn a few merit badges, too.
If you’re like me, you’ve never met a merit badge you didn’t want to earn.
All that striving and hustling is exhausting though. And it rarely results in what we hope it will: a more comfortable, stable life.
Whether you’ve been a recovering overachiever for a while and you’re looking to stretch yourself in new ways, or you’re an overachiever looking for a break from the relentless pursuit of the next A+, this 3-week end-of-year learning experience is for you.
During Recovering Overachiever Club, you’ll earn a very different set of merit badges through introspective, reflection, and mutual support on topics such as:
- Story Management: To earn this badge, you’ll reflect on 2022 and examine the stories you’ve told yourself about what transpired.
- Practice Preparedness: To earn this badge, you’ll discover opportunities to turn more of your life and work into a regular practice—instead of focusing on the next big thing.
- Capacity Awareness: To earn this badge, you’ll examine the resources you have access to, how they’re currently being used, and what you want to adjust for 2023.
- Scheduling Safety: To earn this badge, you’ll adjust your expectations and responsibilities to accommodate safe scheduling (i.e., scheduling that doesn’t leave you burnt out or forgetting important projects).
- Self-Sabotage First Aid: To earn this badge, you’ll identify the ways you’re most likely to trip yourself up and create a gentle plan for addressing that behavior.
Throughout the program, we’ll stay mindful of systems of power and culturally-embedded assumptions. And I’ll share short readings from books and podcasts that have helped me think differently about overachieving.
About Tara McMullin
I might be the leader of the Recovering Overachiever Club—but I’m also a member. In fact, I wrote a book all about it: What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal-Setting.
I’ve been studying new ways of living and working in the 21st-century economy for the last 14 years. And I have 40 years of experience with overachieving! I created Recovering Overachiever Club as a space for ideas, questions, and conversations that I couldn’t fit into my new book.
Recovering Overachiever Club is a 3-week private newsletter & podcast—completely asynchronous learning.
Three times a week, I’ll ask you to consider your beliefs and assumptions about overachieving and provide alternative ways to think about how you live and work. That’s 9 opportunities to think differently about what you want from the next year.
Each lesson is delivered as a private newsletter and podcast so that you can dive in however is best for you.
You’ll also have the opportunity to discussion each lesson in a comment thread—where I’ll also be available to answer questions and provide additional resources.
Recovering Overachiever Club runs from November 29-December 20, 2022.
The fee to join the Recovering Overachiever Club is up to you (with a minimum payment of $10 USD).
Don’t know what to pay? Here are some ideas:
- Just curious about what’s happening during Recovering Overachiever Club? Or maybe you’re not sure you’ll be able to make full use of it? $10 really is fine!
- Ready to fully engage with the ideas and prompts I’ll share with you? Looking forward to sharing what comes up for you with others and asking questions? $25-50 would be great.
- Want to dig into the work and support ongoing operations at What Works? $50+ helps make all the free stuff possible.
After you’ve registered, around November 15, you’ll be added to a private Substack publication with initial resources and a thread for introducing yourself (optional, of course).
Have a question?
Do I need to read the What Works book to participate?
No. This is a standalone exploration with new prompts and reading (or listening). If you have read the book, this will help you go deeper. But if you haven’t, no problem at all.
Who is this for?
This is for anyone who identifies as an overachiever—recovering or otherwise. It’s also for anyone who battles the impulse to constantly do more. It’s also for anyone who wants to enter into 2023 with a fresh perspective on the stories they tell themselves and the expectations they set for themselves.
This deep dive experience is open to both indie and traditional workers, as well as small business owners and entrepreneurs.
How much time will this take?
That’s really up to you! Once you’re in, you’ll have access to the content—on the site, in the podcast feed, or as PDFs—ongoing. So you can go at your own pace.
If you’re looking forward to participating in conversations and asking questions, then plan to spend about 1.5-2 hours per week in the program.
What if I’m in a different time zone?
No problem! This program is designed to be completely asynchronous—which means it doesn’t matter where you are in the world or what kind of schedule you’re running on.
Why run this program as Pay What You Want?
There are a few reasons—but the main one is that I want to experiment with an offering like this to see what I like and what I don’t like… and to see what you like and what you don’t like. It’s been about a decade since I ran anything completely asynchronous!
