Notes for my High Achievers

I am working with some truly brilliant researchers, world-class polymaths who are shaping their fields.

As the coaching call starts, I often notice a certain wild look in their eye, as if they are being hunted by wolves. This goes beyond burnout. These are super high-functioning people drawing on the “mystery tank” of energy and mental bandwidth every single day, for years. They are working the dawn shift; they are working nights.

Here are three things I want to say to my high achievers:

Protect thinking time

Do whatever you need to do to spend time thinking. Even if this year is already a mess, book writing retreats and weeks off into your calendar for next year, so that Future You has time to think.

Consider, seriously, whether being Chair of that amazing committee is going to bring you as much pleasure and satisfaction as writing your book, or having a truly great idea.

An academic career contains wonders, but you can turn into a grumpy bureaucrat if you don’t control your own means of production.  

Never give up on trying to make your research lab support your lifestyle

If your personal wellbeing is not a parameter in your decision making, your life is going to be hell.

Decide how many hours you want to work each week. How much time you want to spend with your partners, kids, parents, friends. How often you want to travel for pleasure or adventure. Your daily patterns of exercise, being outdoors, and so on. Then take those limits as seriously as you take your professional development.

In 2024, an incredible client asked me to do a strategy for their organisation, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I said no. I had noticed my hair was falling out, and I was waking up each day with a feeling of dread. Since then, I have been restructuring my working life to support my nervous system. I encourage you to do this too. Especially my clients who are feeling a bit ragged around the edges. My hair has all grown back.

Be honest about your level of ambition

African researchers and changemakers: many of you are out there doing groundbreaking work with virtually no budget. I am in awe of your frugality and your stoicism.

But imagine what you could do with the right team, the best equipment, the most nurturing environment. Write those plans and costs down and start dreaming big. What becomes possible?

If nobody gives you the money, you can keep producing excellent research on a shoestring.

One of the most interesting results of working with clients on the African Research Funding Accelerator is that, right after they graduate, they go for that one big opportunity they have been putting off for years. And many of them get the money.

We are watching our Accelerator alumni raise philanthropic funding, land major fellowships, and secure significant support from their own institutions.

We would much rather see you running with the wolves than being hunted by them.

Franz Marc, The Foxes, 1913, (source: Wikipedia Art Project)