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Foundations of Achievers
The greatest gift of a life is to spend it for
something that will outlast it.
—William James
Our Foundation
High Achievers are:
- Driven
- Responsible
- Confident
- Saddled with shaky self-esteem
Twelve years ago, Vance found himself repeatedly asking the same question. Why is it that some people from similar backgrounds achieve a lot while others do not? After much research and observation, four characteristics of high achievers emerged. From this research, Vance developed his foundation about high achievers.
This foundation is that high achievers are driven, responsible, confident, and saddled with shaky self-esteem. Yes, that sounds different than what you probably expect! Let’s define our terms.
“Drivenness” is often noticeable as early as age two. We define it as an ability to multi-process while being actively engaged in life because of excitement or fear. Because of this, high achievers are driven to achieve more and more. Drive (or conation) is one of the four domains of human development. The other three are psychomotor/physical, cognitive, and emotional.
Being responsible is holding yourself accountable for what happens in your life. Not being responsible is seeing yourself in a life others create for you. It is orienting on “them,” the system, the boss, headquarters, and in general, others. This belief results in reducing yourself to a victim who has little power.
Confidence is the belief that you can do something or learn to do something at least as well as the next person. In short, if anyone else can do it, you believe you also have the energy, drive, and focus to get it done, too. It is a belief in your ability to use your skills and talents to get what you want, and to do what you want to do.
We define self-esteem as your perceived acceptability of self, versus your belief of how acceptable you think or feel you should be.
More About Responsibility
| RESPONSIBLE | NOT RESPONSIBLE |
| I create | Others create |
| I/me/we* | You, they, them** |
| Leader | Victim |
| ILOC*** | ELOC**** |
High achievers take responsibility for their lives.
Taking responsibility for doing, winning, and losing is part of who high achievers are. High achievers speak in terms of “I,” “me,” and “we.”
Are you 100 percent responsible for what happens to you in life? Probably not.
Are you 100 percent responsible for how you respond to what happens to you in life? We believe so. Otherwise, you would see yourself in a life others create for you. Not taking responsibility for yourself is “empowering” yourself into a victim who has no direct power. Usually when people are abdicating personal responsibility for their lives, they use the pronouns “you,” “they,” and “them.”
Taking personal responsibility for what happens in one’s life is having an internal locus of control. Believing that forces outside of oneself are pretty much responsible for what happens in one’s life is having an external locus of control.
When Vance was in fourth grade, he had a lesson in self-responsibility. Fortunately for him, his teacher, Mrs. White, believed in his ability to learn. She exercised her beliefs about responsibility, which made a difference in his life. The following is their story.
Mrs. White’s Story: How Vance Flunked Fourth Grade—Almost
Vance’s first three years in elementary school in Miami Springs, Florida, were some of his happiest. He had friends, excelled at physical education, and felt loved.
Vance’s reading and spelling weren’t particularly strong. He did everything he could to avoid reading aloud in class because of the snickers he’d hear from his classmates.
His second- and third-grade teachers had passed him, probably mostly out of compassion and a belief that holding him back would negatively impact his self-esteem. He was learning that he did not have to be responsible for learning to read and spell.
When he arrived in Mrs. White’s fourth-grade class, he very quickly was given an opportunity to learn something about his responsibility to learn. The fifth week of school, Mrs. White sent a note home suggesting a speedily held parent conference.
During the conference, Mrs. White told Vance’s mother and the principal that Vance should be put back into third grade because he wasn’t even close to reading or spelling at grade level. Since he was the youngest in the class, being put back wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Vance’s mother cried. Vance was embarrassed and afraid. He started crying, too. Between sobs he asked for one more chance to show he belonged in Mrs. White’s class. She agreed to work with him after school four days a week for six weeks. If after that he wasn’t progressing satisfactorily, he’d be put back into a third-grade class.
Mrs. White also expected Vance to work at home on assignments that she would give him. It would require that he put his best efforts and attention to the tasks.
Vance remembers growing up a lot during those six weeks. He even took upon himself the responsibility of seeking out extra help from his grandmother. He practiced reading and learning to spell words with her.
Mrs. White also kept her promise to be responsible for the extra time and attention Vance needed to begin to catch up.
Vance learned
- To be responsible for his own learning;
- To take school more seriously;
- To be grateful for the opportunity to be responsible for his own results by working harder and smarter;
- That there were people who really loved him enough to be interested in his growth.
On the next page is a statement for you to consider about personal responsibility and opportunity.
A Quiz
Carefully consider the following statement, and then decide on your response.
I’ve always done the most important thing for me to do, at that time, given the information I had at that time.
Now decide if you believe this statement to be true or false.
| TRUE__________ | FALSE_______ |
Answer the quiz on the opposite page with true or false, whichever is “your truth.”
Don’t read further until you have answered this for yourself, based on your reflection of your beliefs and behaviors, not your intended behaviors.
This question is not addressing what you should have done or what was best for you to have done. It is simply a question asking what your belief is about your choices and your responsibility for them.
Nobody’s problem is ideal. Nobody has things just as they would like them. The thing to do is to make a success with what material I have. It is sheer waste of time and soul-power to imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different.
—Dr. Frank Crane
A Quiz
I’ve always done the most important thing for me to do, at that time, given the information I had at the time.
We believe that everyone does what is most important for them to do, at that time, given the information they had at the time of the decision.
Every successful person I have heard of has done the best they could with conditions as they found them, and not waited until the next year for better.
—Edgar Watson Howe
This quiz comes from our understanding of Viktor Frankl’s writings in his well-known book, Man’s Search for Meaning. As a prisoner in Auschwitz and other camps, he knew that there were some people who were immediately killed by people and events beyond their control. Of the remaining people, himself included, he eventually believed there was a choice made about how each would respond to the reprehensible conditions. He came to believe that each prisoner retained his or her free choice of how to view the events in his or her life and to choose to do what was most important to him or her at that time.
When high achievers believe this statement is true for them, they give themselves at least three powerful gifts:
- They conclude their life is reflective of decisions they have made to date, empowering them to consider choices for the future.
- They are optimizing their learning from the consequences of each of their decisions.
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