High Performing Individuals (HPI)

By Phil McClelland MDiv, MA, LPCC-S, NCC, ACS

Does this describe you or someone you care about and love?

• You have an engine revving inside of you that doesn’t know how to stop.
• You think that spinning five or more metaphorical plates at the same time is a slow day.
• You have things you want to accomplish, and not only are you accomplishing them, but you have already accomplished many of them.

These are all characteristics of a High Performing Individual.

A High Performing Individual is someone driven by internal standards and goals, powered by a near constant sense of forward motion. This may have been the girl in high school who was into sports, academics, student council, and working a job, or the adult today who has multiple degrees and feels like they are just getting started.

Not everyone works this way. There are many different types and styles of personalities in this world, and each one brings flavor and wisdom to the human experience. From the surfer mentality of my wife’s home state that is governed by the motto “live for today and catch the next wave” to so many of my loved ones who are neuro-spicy, who share a very ironic sense of humor, and need to know which box they are currently in so they can know how to behave. From the many other styles of personality, we can learn and appreciate each other and our unique ways of being human.

If you, like me, happen to fall into the High Performing Individual category, or this is someone you care about, here are some things that can help you understand this type of personality, and both the strengths and challenges that come with it:

High Performers don’t know how to stop and don’t really see a need to

What this means for them is different from other personality styles. They don’t always recognize when that same drive begins to cost them rest, relationships, or presence. High Performers value rest, but rest for them is a means to an end, to give them the fuel needed to get to the next set of destinations. They still have a bunch of places they want to get to before their time in this life is over. That’s not a bad thing or an arrogant thing, it just is. They value being with their people and being in the moment, and they still feel the pull to keep moving forward.

High Performers are susceptible to their own hype

High Performers are the type of people that the office motivational pictures of the 90’s were based on, with grandiose words like Endurance, Strength accompanied by pictures of mountains and athletes. My favorite, of course, is the sad little picture of the kitty in the toilet, with the motto, Hang in There! They can get their sense of value and worth confused with what they do rather than the intrinsic value and worth that every person carries for who they are. High Performers are told how awesome they are, look at all you’ve accomplished. They already know that better than anyone else. But those accomplishments are a means to an end, to get them where they are trying to go, not the goal itself. What they need to hear is that they are valued and loved for who they are, not what they can do.

High Performers are driven

High Performers are driven to go to places that are meaningful and important to them based on their integrity and goals. They may not always understand this inexorable drive that they have inside of them. They sometimes find it hard to understand when other personality styles don’t have that same internal drive. But they don’t know what it’s like not to have that engine revving hard in their chest. If you work this way, lean into it. You’ve got places to be and daylight is wasting. If you love someone who works this way, love them for who they are and enjoy the ride you’ll take together.

If the High Performing Individual personality style resonates with you or someone you love, let’s talk.

From someone who knows the strengths and challenges of this way of living, we have a lot to talk about and many exciting places to go.

Some engines don’t idle.

The goal isn’t to shut them off, it’s to learn how to drive them well.