The Disappointing Flip Side of Being an Overachiever
As a product manager, Lisa’s job is to make decisions.
- What product should the company start developing?
- How should that product be designed?
- Should it be for businesses or consumers?
- When should it launch?
- How should the product be marketed?
There are hundreds of questions that need to be answered in order to drive the vision, strategy, and direction for each product Lisa’s in charge of.
The only problem was that Lisa couldn’t make a single decision on her own. Whenever she would attempt to make a judgment call, fear came rushing to the surface. Her inner critic shouted, “You have no idea what you’re doing!”.
On an intellectual level, Lisa knew that in most situations (at work and otherwise), there’s usually not one “right” choice. Nevertheless, as a lifelong overachiever, she strived to make the best decision possible. She worried about steering her team in the wrong direction and felt the heavyweight of the CEO’s expectations to raise company revenue.
So she’d stay stuck in indecision, essentially procrastinating until she was forced to make a call one way or another.
