High Achievers’ Guide to Achieve Inner Peace & Joy
Working at Google, I am surrounded by highly intelligent, capable, and high achieving professional women in Tech – both individual contributors and leaders, tech and non-tech workers. Many of them are trained by the corporate awarding system and society to overwork, and reach never-ending goals till one day, they burn out or are on the verge of burnout right after they finally hit that promo goal, yet not experience the expected joy, or got frustrated being passed over for that promo they deserve and start to question whether they are on the right path.
After joining Google back in 2016, I remember setting stretching goals for myself; getting all dressed up for those fancy & exclusive events, and thinking how good/popular of a person I was, and how good of a life I had. If I could be brutally honest with myself back then, I’d probably choose to read and recharge my energy at home (yep! I am a typical introvert who needs a lot of ME time to charge up my energy)
Inevitably my ego’s appetite kept expanding. When I was in Tech Sales at Google, I closed many multi-million dollar deals and chased one promotion and award after another one to prove that Google made the right hiring decision at the cost of my health, sanity, and relationship. I remember when I achieved 605% quota attainment, I was not feeling the excitement that I thought I’d feel, there was hollowness inside of me.
My life was great from the outside- high-paying job, loving husband, multi passion side hustles, international trips and yoga retreats, and expensive bags & clothes. The truth was I kept questioning the meaning of my life being fully awake at 3 am for countless nights (yep! Like those scenes at the beginning of “Eat. Pray. Love”)
It was not till I hit the rock bottom, I started to work with coaches, go inward and take full responsibility for my life. I finally found a way out and realized something valuable.
Pro Tip:
- Inner peace and joy ONLY exist in soul-centered living.
- Anxiety and frustration exist in ego-centered living because our ego always wants us to DO MORE and ACHIEVE MORE-it’s a never-ending infinity loop.
- As our ego wants us to attach the outcome to our identity, anxiety, and self-doubt are inevitable.
Ego is an interesting thing, it was developed when we made our first mistakes as children. We projected ourselves to be someone stronger to survive. As we grow, it needs to be dropped for us to have a healthy relationship with ourselves and others. When you see there is nothing to be proved and nothing to possess, ego and the associated tension dissolves.
That brings the most important thing that overachieving professional women in Tech can do to achieve inner peace.
Take a moment to go inward and reflect.
Be brutally honest with yourself here: What are some things you do consciously or subconsciously to feed your ego?
For example, when you go to the gym to work out, do you honestly enjoy a healthy routine & body, or do you just want to gain muscles to impress others?
I hope you free yourself from others’ expectations and your ego. The more you behave like the one you want to be, the more inner peace you get to have.
You’ve been avoiding your soul’s voice for a long time, now it’s time to quiet your mind and give your heart a chance to speak to you.
If you can close your eyes for a moment, and place one hand at your heart center. Bring yourself back to the time when you felt alive, peaceful, or pure joy.
Where were you?
Who was there with you?
What were you doing?
What was it about you and the situation that made you feel that way?
Congrats! You’ve already made the first step towards soul-centered living. Now pat yourself on the back for the new awareness you’ve created.
“Your mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.”
Your mind and ego pull you into anxiety, frustration, busyness, and restlessness. your heart takes you right back home where inner peace, joy, and connection exist.
I offer Conscious 1:1 Coaching, Apply for a discovery call. Sign up to be part of the Soul Sundays community if you want to get on the path to self mastery with mind-like people.
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I’m Sha! I've created this space for inner reflection, emotional healing, personal growth and inspiration. Enjoy a cup of tea and some transformational and practical wellbeing & personal growth tips here.