3 Traits That Led to My Corporate Success … and ultimately, to Constant Overwhelm

Teresa Vozza
4 min readApr 11, 2022

(and how you can avoid the same traps)

1. High Sense of Urgency

Anyone who knows me also knows that I live by the “DO IT NOW” philosophy.

If I am shopping and I see something I like, I buy it NOW.

If I get an idea in my head about a new topic I want to write, I will leap out of bed and start the first paragraph.

An email ping? I reply immediately.

A client request? I will have it to you by EOD.

This strong sense of urgency serves me incredibly well. However, there is a dark side to being responsive. When I was in the executive ranks, I RARELY EVER missed a deadline. As a result, I was promoted, I enjoyed strong performance ratings, received healthy pay increases, and more importantly, became known as the “GO TO” person. While this is highly revered in the corporate world, it’s not in the health and wellness world.

O.C. Tanner refers to this as “artificial urgency”

Artificial urgency is the art of making something that isn’t urgent, urgent. As easy as that. If you have a deadline due on 15th February & you set yourself a deadline of 5th, that’s artificial urgency.

The problem with being uber-responsive all the time is that boundaries get blurred, over-dependence on leaders is enabled, and you will create a vicious cycle that could damage your success. A reputation for saying yes to everything is not an admirable trait in senior leadership.

What You Can Do Instead: Resist the urge to respond to every email or request right away. Give yourself a full 24-hour turnaround time that allows for breathing room and time for a non-liquid lunch.

2. High Achievement-Orientation

Being a competitive or “high achiever” sounds like a humble brag, doesn’t it?

I thought so too; however, it is anything BUT.

At the height of my corporate career, I was waking up in the morning and within minutes, could feel the adrenalin course through my veins. Morning anxiety became a constant companion in my life.

If I wasn’t creating mental lists or rehearsing conversations with important stakeholders, then I was carefully planning out my strategy to elicit the most positive reaction to my work or that of my team’s.

The problem with being a competitive overachiever is that it exacts a heavy emotional and physical toll. It is not uncommon for us to be constantly scanning for signs that other people don’t like us or compare ourselves to others: Am I being clear enough? Influential enough? Smart enough? And are others seeing that in me?

Unless we receive a heavy dose of external validation, high-achievers tend to overcompensate by working long hours and saying yes to everything. Driven by a Disease To Please, no matter how much gets accomplished, we still wonder if it was good enough.

What can you do instead: Complete a Should-Detox. All the “I Should’s” in your life, write them on a piece of paper and toss it. Replace with, “I Choose” and watch the magic unfold.

3. High Value on Efficiency

I spent years prizing myself for being one of the BEST multitaskers on the planet. In fact, I believed my ability to juggle multiple priorities was the secret sauce to my success. I could sign my son up for camp while simultaneously being on a call and sending a text message to my husband.

I mean, really.

The truth of the matter is that we have become so accustomed to being on all the time that we just don’t know any different.

That’s all it is. A BAD HABIT in an attention-driven economy.

What did that bad habit look like for me? Not “dropping the ball”, even if they were only “plastic balls”. So, the need to keep all those computer tabs open? Unnecessary and completely avoidable.

A recent article written by Forbes indicates that “multitasking is generally pretty bad for our productivity. Yet, we still do it. There’s still a “mystique” associated with “doing it all”.

Yet, this multi-tasking so-called superpower of mine was an “illusion”. Sure, I may have completed more tasks with less time, but certainly not at my best. I unwittingly perpetuated the habit of being viewed as constantly available and therefore it became harder and harder to become “less available”.

What you can do instead: Set your timer for 60 minutes and experiment with closing all computer tabs except the one you need to complete work on. Close off all messenger pings and place your phone in another room. Work your ‘power hour’ diligently and at the end of the 60 minutes, note how you feel. If you truly turned off, you will feel a sense of ease and (inner!) accomplishment.

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Teresa Vozza

Former C-Suite Executive; Executive Coach; NLP Trainer; Speaker; HeartMath Trainer; Join my email list at www.teresavozza.ca