Awoken by the ringing of your phone alarm, your first thought goes immediately to what you need to accomplish that day. You begin to schedule every breathing moment in order to make the absolute most out of every second (and God forbid life not adhere to your personal plans for the day). When it comes to school work, not only do you finish the assignments due for this week but you have created a study schedule for your exam in two weeks. Even when you’re completing the smallest of tasks, you have to do it to the best of your ability. When watching your favorite flick or Netflix series, you totally relate with the Hermione Grangers and Leslie Knopes of the television screen.

If you agree with any of these statements, you, my friend, are more than likely deemed as an “overachiever” by society.

You know what I mean. You get that weird eyebrow raise and the timeless questions of “Why are you trying so hard?" And "How do you manage it all?” by everyone around you. Family, friends, peers. Everyone is convinced that you try too hard or that you’re in entirely over your head due to the amount of extracurricular you choose to throw on your plate.

They don’t understand the rush you get when all of your hard work is realized or the sick feeling you feel in the bottom of your gut when you fall a little short. Over time you’ve learned to pretend like you didn’t see the wave of eye rolls at your latest accomplishment. Heck, at this point you’ve tried to keep your latest 4.0 or career boost low key in order to avoid the awkward.

I never understood how putting your best foot forward could come with such negative connotations. What measures the amount one can ‘achieve’ in life and how is it possible for one person to decide when that is too much? And lets just say that these things could be measured, what does it hurt to not want to settle for being average or mediocre?

And why do we take it so personal when someone decides that’s not what they want for themselves? When did someone else’s accomplishments become our own failures?

In reality, we thrive on the success of overachievers. Benjamin Franklin pretty much did everything: he was a postmaster general, established a public hospital, a volunteer fire company and a college (cough, cough University of Pennsylvania). Even though Ben was an Enlightenment philosophy student, he chose to dabble in science on the side and managed to create electricity. But hey, if Ben had gotten butt-hurt when his buddies called him an overachiever and thought “eh, I can just chill as a Postmaster General,” we’d all be sitting around with our candlesticks thinking “hey it’d be cool if someone could make it a little brighter in here.”

Heck, overachieving can even be dated back to the 15^th century when Leonardo da Vinci decided being a painter wasn’t enough and took up engineering, anatomy and other scientific works. We would be staring at blank walls in art museums thinking “hey wouldn’t it be cool if someone had painted Jesus and his homies eating super or something?” or we'd have to live with a lack of helicopters (built with the help of Da Vinci’s Aerial Screw design) had Da Vinci gave up on his overachieving ways.

Boom. Overachieving History.

So to my fellow overachieving friends, don’t let the negative views of society stop you. Your daily hustle towards your dreams will create the life you have always envisioned for yourself. You will have days where you feel tired and run ragged, but don’t give up. Take a moment to recuperate, and then draw energy from the passion burning within you. Never forget that at the end of the day, the only person who determines the life you live is yourself. Never be ashamed for your hard work because of the negative stigma placed on overachieving. You have earned everything you have achieved.

Look past the opinions of people who don’t quite understand your motives, and focus on the people who support you and are proud of all that you do. Draw strength from them and be grateful for everything they do for you, because they too, much like your overachieving, give you incredible opportunities that can shape you into the person you want to be.

Take your status with pride, channel your inner Franklin or Da Vinci, and refuse to let “overachiever” become a bad word.

And to those who don’t quite understand the motives of the overachiever, we know it looks like too much, but I promise we enjoy our lifestyles. We may be stressed at times, but it comes with the territory, and a little stress is worth accomplishing our dreams. Know that what we do isn’t in the hopes to make you look bad or to be “better” than anyone, because at the end of the day our biggest critics are ourselves, not you. We appreciate your lifestyle in hopes that you can appreciate ours. Everyone takes a different path towards their goals, no one is better than the other, it really just depends on the person. But the important thing to remember is that just because someone chooses a different path than you do, doesn’t affect your personal journey. So let them do their thing.

Next time you call someone an overachiever, keep in mind that their simply working to uphold their personal standards, not yours.