The best part about underperforming is that you are aware of your capability to do much better; the worst part about it is every single other thing.
When you suddenly begin to struggle with the simplest of things, when you make mistakes you believed yourself too good to do, you know you’re heading down a dangerous path. Luckily, there are several ways to escape this unfortunate road. Regrettably, all these escape routes are much easier said than done.
“Keep your head up!” is one of the more common quick-fix advices you are likely to come across in your search of a solution to your troubles. As stated above, this doesn’t seem to be overly difficult, yet the circumstances make it somewhat of a "mission impossible."
You see, not keeping your head up and underperforming are two things that go really well together. Almost too well, since they’re close to inseparable. If an underachiever is keeping his or her head up though, they’re actually probably not underachieving at all. Instead, it is far more likely they are performing quite well by their standards, but they’re sadly not very good at what they’re doing.
If you, however, usually do perform better than you currently do, you may be told to focus on the very basics of your tasks. You should focus on doing the simple things properly in order to get back on track. In other words, return to the roots of what you’re supposed to do. As you might suspect, this advice is way easier to give than to actually implement. It is a core part of underachieving to struggle with the easiest of things. If the basics of your profession suddenly stop running smoothly for you, know that you have discovered the essence of underachievement.
If we further examine the process of underachieving, we find complete mental breakdowns, dangerously large amounts of anger burning inside as well as a sense of standing completely alone in a world that has spun so fast your own actions are far beyond your own control.
The last part, obviously being a major exaggeration, is sure to be something everyone has experienced at some point in their life. As time goes by, your misfortune seems to spread rapidly, not unlike a particularly persistent illness, plotting to negatively affect new aspects of your life until you one day realize the tide has turned and the demons in your mind have vanished without a trace.
Instead of relying on unhelpful advice, know that the turning point, where your sense of underachievement no longer haunts you, will come out of nowhere. Someone once said that it always is darkest before the dawn, and the quote truly depicts this dilemma. After some time, it is inevitable that your life and actions start to make sense again. It is like an unexpected blessing when you realize that you’re once again able to live up to your actual potential.
This then suggests that all advice you may be given is more or less useless. Instead, all it takes for your luck to change is one good day. And that day will come, regardless of how miserable you might feel at the moment. So just hope this very day will be tomorrow, and that you have the strength to power through in the meantime.
