INTRODUCTION
Welcome to my blog series which dives deeply into Transformative life Coaching.
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Transformative Life Coaching (TLC) is all about creating an expanded way of BEing, which will create potentially epic outcomes for you and your business.
Superachieving: The curable childhood curse of the prodigiously capable
Superachievers and overachievers are the driving forces of true innovation. The terms have the same meaning and are used interchangeably in this blog. Overachieving is a trauma response: It's a condition. It's the curable childhood curse of the prodigiously capable.
For a society that rewards accomplishments, we need to take a hard look at the costs. We are ‘insecure overachievers’: Exceptionally capable and fiercely ambitious, but driven by a profound belief in our own inadequacy. We feel unworthy to the core. According to the Wall Street Journal, a study of 400 people has shown that 75 percent of us overachievers have suffered childhood trauma: This is not widely known. Did you know that a recent study has shown that 36 percent of UK surgeons have trauma symptoms, and that 12% of UK surgeons have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? According to the landmark book "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk, nearly half of us trauma survivors numb their feelings with addiction. This has been well documented in the scientific literature. Trauma also leads to a number of symptoms, signs, and self-limiting and self-defeating behaviours as shown in the Trauma responses Constellation below.
Trauma responses Constellation
As superachievers we fail above the level at which others achieve. We usually set our own level of impossibly high goals and standards. Or we self-sabotage as there is a cognitive dissonance between our success and our sense of self-worth. As superachievers we numb our pain with work addiction - a compulsion to external validation through our many successes. We become number one in any role we undertake. This drives us to achieve beyond all the competition, so people love to employ us. But it's not a question of if you will burn out and crash, but when? And then our employers drop us like a stone and hire the next superachiever that comes along.
"The Problem with Overachievement" by The School Of Life
Some children grow up believing that they are noticed and valued by their parents only when they are excelling. This attitude may persist long after they have left home because they have internalised that insecurity as part of their identity. This form of emotional abuse is not seen as abuse, but trauma is trauma. And having to bury your true Self in order to secure survival attachment needs to your parents in lieu of authenticity as a young child is severe trauma: It's a matter of life and death to the child, and it conditions our adult mind to act unconsciously to continue to hustle for our worthiness. It goes on relentlessly in what seem like perfect families. For me, coming last in a sports day race where my mother stormed off and called me useless at the age of 7, driving home without me so that I had to find my own way home. I buried the emotion of toxic shame deep inside. Its unbearable nature bubbled subconsciously up in the form of me running 5 marathons in little over 3 hours as an adult, each time beating my personal best. But I could not outrun my own deep feelings of being a loser. It drove me to doing 5 A levels, achieving 5 grade As; getting into medical school, getting a Master's degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, one of the top colleges in one of the top universities in the world; then a PhD and numerous other higher degrees, diplomas and qualifications. I became top of my profession, published very widely and was invited to lecture all over the world, sometimes to 12,000 people. But I could not outrun or out-achieve the shame of that little boy standing on the playing field watching his mother turn her back on him, believing that he should be someone else, someone better. I am not alone: Decades of research into elite firms confirmed this particular type of worker: the superachiever. Dr Alexandra Michel at the University of Pennsylvania has researched the lives and careers of investment bankers. "People know that they are being directly measured against their colleagues. But because they don’t actually know how their colleagues are doing, they set themselves incredibly high standards, just to be sure". To avoid feeling unworthy, we desperately feel the need to be the absolute best at what we do, going far beyond anything required of us. But we have no idea that that is what we are doing, or what is driving us.
Only a small minority of then working population (as little as 13%) are happy with their work. Most of them are unfulfilled, chronically stressed in miserable environments, feeling empty and resentful. Why? Because the majority of people are not aligned to their purpose in life. Some trauma happened in their childhood that compromised their authenticity to save their attachment to their parents - their lifeline was at stake.
There is a great deception across the globe, a real-life matrix, the Hustle Culture, which is defined as the state of overworking to the point it becomes a lifestyle, where hard workers such as us are actively exploited, perhaps for some of us with a lack of compassionate leadership. Despite extensive training and qualifications in some highly regarded professions over 70 percent of us are experiencing burnout. Ten percent of Americans are workaholics, a genuine behavioural addiction, which shares the same causes as all other addictions, namely feeling fear and toxic shame as a result of childhood trauma, resulting in a deep feeling of unworthiness, and a disconnected society. The ultimate consequence is dis-ease and death. We have an existential angst that sits there. It weighs heavily on our chests: We shouldn't confuse it with energy and drive. The ego, which is not the real you, needs external validation and success as a way of numbing your painful internalised emotions: These emotions are buried alive. Dale Carnegie said "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." We are not given a programme for living. And we are rewarded for external validation. Isn't the only validation that you truly need to be epic your own?
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Are you a superachiever? Read on...
Are you an overachiever?
Success is something that everyone strives for, but is it ever possible to work too hard to reach your goals? Even though we attain more success than the vast majority of people, we overachievers are never satisfied and always strive to accomplish more. But we have lost before we begin: Enough is never enough. We can never win the race. Because by defining ourselves by something external to ourselves, it is transient, ephemeral, fleeting. While this behaviour can lead to professional and academic success, it can create a huge imbalance in our lives. As overachievers may subconsciously neglect our own needs or the needs of family and friends in order to triumph. The only road ahead for us is disaster.
How exactly do we define overachievement? Is there a point at which being successful and high-performing veers into excess? While there is no established definition, most would agree that the problem is not the need to achieve. Instead, it is the means that are used to reach and maintain that level of achievement that can be problematic. If people judge their own worth purely based upon successes, there is a strong sign that they are an overachiever.
So what distinguishes the overachievers from the high-performers of the world? Are the two really so different? Overachievers are more focused on reaching the finish line than they are on the actual end product. Achievement is all about reaching an end - the word itself derives from an Old French term meaning 'to bring to a head.' Overachievers are focused on doing just that. No matter what it takes, they will get it done. High performers are focused on reaching their goals, but they care much more about how well they perform.
Success does not just mean finishing on time or ticking certain tasks off a list. Instead, it is all about the journey itself, how well the project turns out, and how much one learns along the way. The act of performing something is not simply to reach the end so that you can say that it is finished - it is about the performance itself. It about doing something, doing it well, making something better, and even learning something from the experience.
While there is no scholarly consensus, researchers typically define workaholics with at least three of the following four characteristics: Working to the extent that one neglects self-care or one’s personal life; Experiencing little enjoyment of work; Working more than is expected or than the circumstances demand; Displaying controlling behaviours, like not delegating or trusting others.
Scholars are not totally aligned on whether workaholism is a true addiction, and it is not listed in the DSM-5, the U.S. standard used to classify mental disorders. The field of study on the subject is still nascent, though Bryan Robinson, a psychotherapist, thinks that workaholism should be considered on the spectrum alongside other addictions: “It’s a true addiction, and our society is in denial,” he says. Researcher Dr Rebekah Reysen suspects that workaholics can experience the same gratification and withdrawal cycles as other addicts: “You’re compelled to work but don’t necessarily feel joyous. You’re not getting a lot of satisfaction but feel like you have to do it.” When the benefits from work don’t last long, workaholics add more to their plate. As Dr Reysen describes it: “You need more and more of it to get the same results.” Success becomes a 'fix', as potent to your dopamine reward system as any other drug. A patient Nancy echoed the sentiment of work as drug, though for her it may function more like an anxiety-reduction drug than a stimulant: “It almost feels like I use work ... I’m calming myself down, I’m not crying, and within a few hours, this task of writing or transcribing will be done.” The withdrawal symptoms are real for people who can’t relax without feeling guilt or anxiety. Chanel Dubofsky, a writer, says she can’t take time off “Without psychological repercussions,” and the New York nonprofit worker describes relaxing as “Very hard” and “Stressful” because “Self-care sometimes feels to me like an excuse for not doing work.” Malissa Clark, a workaholism researcher, doesn’t think the term should be added to the DSM: “People can exhibit workaholic tendencies even if it’s not severe enough to be a clinical problem. It can still be detrimental.” Recognising workaholism as a clinical problem may also be complicated by how much American culture, replicated throughout the west, values work. It’s common for Americans not to use all their vacation days, and Reysen adds: “Work is one of those activities that society applauds, even when people work excessively and sacrifice their health, relationships, and other facets of their lives.” A workaholic may go unnoticed or even receive praise, raises, or promotions for their unhealthy habits. This hidden pandemic needs a light shining on it. This is my purpose and calling: To bring it into the open and to evocate a solution. There are four reasons then that there is such poor awareness of this and why it is becoming a crisis with pandemic levels of burnout: "Well to do' and middle class families are not seen as a place of childhood trauma, despite sometimes often astronomical expectations, which compel children to forsake their true Self for their human attachment needs; Success is rewarded with accolades, trophies, degrees and increased income; Companies love overachievers and drive them into the ground until their inevitable burnout (addictions never just fizzle out without recognition, treatment and recovery); Many of us pass under the radar until we ultimately crash. So, the causes are hidden and socially acceptable - parents wanting their children to achieve in the way that they want, not the way the child wants, and the consequences - workaholism - are hidden or celebrated and rewarded. We have no insight that this is what we are doing: We are sleep-working until we crash. There is a real problem here.
Further complicating the difference between hard work and overwork is the fact that most people have to work in order to survive, and some have no choice but to work long hours. And many people derive a huge part of their identity from work. Reysen explains: “Work engagement can bring accomplishments and feelings of self-worth… It can be a way of self-regulating, connecting with other people, making a contribution to society, and enhancing one's self-esteem in a big way.” As the New York nonprofit worker put it: “Work is a huge part of who I am... My purpose in life is very work-driven, and my sense of self worth is also very work-driven.” And as far as coping mechanisms go, working a lot is certainly more socially acceptable than drinking, for example. Nancy sees workaholism as a partly hidden experience: “There won’t be any hangover after. Workaholism seems on the outside like not completely damaging, but it is when you don’t also take care of yourself.” In fact, the demonstrated consequences from sustained workaholism include declining physical and emotional health, family and marital strife, trouble sleeping, and more. There is also the reality that modern technology allows constant connectivity, making it challenging for anyone, let alone a workaholic, to disengage from work.
It’s often hard not to feel envious of superachievers – as we ascend the stage to collect another prize, float our start-up company, are promoted a decade ahead of our peers or dominate the music charts or bestseller lists. Over-achievers torment others subconsciously through their achievements. But others should, more rightly, combine their envy with compassion. It is likely that us gifted souls are paying an oddly elevated price for our extraordinary successes, so much so that – once our full psychological profiles are in view – others, including companies and institutions that should be responsible for them, should start to feel compassion for the trajectory of their lives.
What distinguishes over-achievers from the simply highly talented or driven is what powers us in work. We labour tirelessly principally or primarily not because we uniquely enjoy what we do or have more urgent material demands than the rest of society, but because we are subject to unusually intense internal, psychological pressures. Behind our relentless activity lies an emotional rather than professional burden. It may look as if we simply want to sell more books, accumulate more shares or have our name in lights. But we over-achievers are all the while trying to secure something far more tricky, unusual and unmentioned: we are trying – through their work – to correct an aspect of a troubled emotional past. We are trying to impress a father who felt withholding and severe around them three decades before. We are hoping to assuage a feeling of catastrophe that we experienced in the deprived chaotic home of our birth.
In other words, we over-achievers are trying to solve a range of psychological problems through material or worldly means. This is why our efforts must, in a deep sense, always be doomed to failure – even when it appears to most of the world as if we are succeeding beyond measure.
Because success is the moment when we over-achievers are likely to notice the doomed nature of our ambition, it is a particularly troubling and dangerous eventuality. Depression may set in just after the company is sold; we will fall into a crisis just after we finally gain worldwide recognition. At exactly the point when our work is acclaimed or finds its audience, we over-achievers are at risk of severe breakdown. So long as we are merely running, we can forget to notice that our goal is misaligned with our true inner ambition. We must wait for success to reveal the fateful nature of our life’s quest. It is when we appear to have it all from the outside, and we deeply realise that we feel empty, joyless, exhausted, unfulfilled and lacking meaning in our lives, that we inevitable crash or self-sabotage, to finally get the train off the wrong track. We built the wrong tower!
Then how can a workaholic heal, especially considering that we likely can’t go “cold turkey”? In his private practice, Robinson says the most important thing is learning to sit still and be in the moment instead of being impatient. Chanel Dubofsky, a 37-year-old writer who splits her time between New York and Massachusetts, believes she’s had overachieving tendencies from a young age. As Dubofsky explains "Working really hard saved me from going into a really dark place." But overachieving can take you to an even darker place, including death. It very nearly did for me, twice.
Characteristics of an overachiever:
During school, colleges and university: In academic settings, overachievers are frequently identified as students who perform above and beyond the standards expected of their age level. They are often contrasted with underachievers, who are those who perform less well than educators expect. For college and university students, "There is a fine line between being a high achiever and an overachiever." In the US, "An increasing number of college students are literally making themselves sick in the pursuit of perfection", by setting "Self-imposed but unrealistically high standards." According to Dr. Modupe Akin-Deko, senior psychologist at Buffalo State College's counselling centre, "Maladaptive perfectionists set themselves up for failure by setting impossible standards for themselves, thus lowering their self esteem when they never reach their goals." Clinical psychologist Marilyn Sorenson, in her book "Breaking the Chain of Low Self-Esteem", maintains that people with low self-esteem often find themselves driven to overachieve to build self-worth.
At work: Overachievers tend to be very successful in their professional lives, but they are often known as hard-driving workaholics. In leadership roles, they can be perceived as overly harsh, egoic, and dictatorial due to their excessively high expectations of other group members. They hold themselves to an almost impossibly high standard, and they tend to apply those same measures to those that they supervise. Team members may respect an overachievers work ethic but can feel overburdened by the weight of expectations that these leaders hold. While overachievers may be successful in some ways, their tendency to take on too much work can lead to burnout over the long-term. Trying to maintain such a high level of output and performance can be exhausting or even impossible to keep up for a long period of time. When an overachiever does reach the inevitable breaking point, the admission of defeat or failure can be devastating. In the workplace, "Overachievers have the drive, determination, passion, and energy needed to move huge projects forward. Overachievers increasingly take on new projects and drive themselves to perfection, often becoming known as workaholics. Completing tasks above and beyond expectations provides the same physical and mental high as a drug." However, managers need to deal with the negative side of the overachiever personality: the overachiever employee may "Set unrealistic expectations, work insane hours, and take risks to succeed at any cost", which can lead the employee to "Become obsessed, dysfunctional, and ultimately unable to perform." Other issues with overachievers are that they "Typically forget to communicate vital information, often take shortcuts, and leave the details to someone else." As well, overachievers often "have difficulties interacting socially" and they are "at high risk for burnout". According to Dr. Richard Rawson, associate director of UCLA's Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, "Methamphetamine is popular with workers in overachieving, highly productive economies such as those in Japan and South Korea." Methamphetamines "Have graduated into a formidable problem in the workplace"; in the US, the California Bar Association says "One in four lawyers who voluntarily enters drug rehabilitation programs is addicted to methamphetamines." According to psychologist Arthur Ciaramicoli, there is a "Curse of the capable," which is "A complex web of emotions that drives people to hide their genuine needs behind a mask of over-achievement." He claims people often seek "The 'quick fix' of over-achievement to compensate for wounded self-esteem." As well, he states that "Chronically-overachieving people often don't realise unrecognised needs are driving them from the healing conditions necessary for fulfilled lives." He says that "Compulsive overachieving can stimulate production of dopamine"; however these "Temporary 'lifts' will pass, triggering a spiralling non-fulfilling cycle of achievement and disappointment." He claims that "The drive for status to overcome psychological wounds generally leads to other problems such as poor nutrition, weight gain, excessive reliance on caffeine, alcohol or other harmful substances and sleep deprivation." However, success does not always equal happiness or fulfilment, especially when we chase success blindly with no sense of purpose and we use that success as a measure of our own self-value and worth. Many of us subconsciously chase success out of unrelenting need to be perfect, to gain external validation that we never got in childhood, and to prove ourselves worthy of love. In her book "How to Do the Work", Dr Nicole LePera writes that the overachiever "Feels seen, heard, and valued through success and achievement. Uses external validation as a way to cope with low self-worth. Believes that the only way to receive love is through achievement." As overachievers, we often use our careers as a way to distract ourselves from unhealed wounds and keep ourselves busy enough to avoid any real type of intimacy. It was great, until I woke up one day and realised I was depressed, unfulfilled, and doing anything I could to avoid feeling this huge gap in my life. Constantly overworking myself and striving for perfection burnt me out. I didn't want to stay in my job, but I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had no idea what made me happy, or what was fulfilling to me. The thought of being anything less than perfect and successful in a 'good' job seemed like failure to me. Plus, the money I was making was a form of validation and protection. I didn't want to risk that. As entrepreneurs, we want to build our businesses authentically and with purpose. We want to work hard, but avoid burnout. We want to feel aligned with what we're building. We don't want to use our business as a distraction for life, we want to use it to create lives we love. Ever feel like you are always on the go, not feeling comfortable slowing down? All through school, college, medical school, residency, and then practicing medicine, the one thing that I got really good at was staying busy. Planning projects, test-taking, solving cases, treating patients, emails, meetings, joining boards, organisations, getting more certifications, a world of task lists, and checkboxes. What was often sacrificed was being a mom, wife, domestic duties, family time, and self-care. I have been goal driven all my life and felt like staying busy served me well … or so I thought. Filling all my time with to-dos and always saying “yes,” even when exhausted and crazy busy, was worn as a badge of honour instead of an acknowledgment of underlying trauma. The monkey mind is a busy place. Having trouble slowing down can be a sign of being stuck in fight-or-flight, lacking safety, needing to escape, and seeking to prove self-worth. We are addicted to the constant flow of information, rewarded by feeling of task completion and crave the constant engagement of thought and recognition. Over time, this becomes difficult to escape from, and staying in a perpetual state of being “on” becomes the norm. The internal system is used to being overloaded. Multitasking and hyper-vigilance drive up adrenaline and temporarily provides relief from the inner suffering. Work becomes a way to sabotage self-care, physically and emotionally. It creates a false sense of control, safety, and security where one can take charge and be confident. This coping behaviour starts in childhood, where one finds a sense of stability in taking control of eating behaviours, caring for others, and overachieving in school. Accomplishments, awards, and degrees are driven by the desire to be worthy of love and attention; a work-driven belief system that can bring recognition, feelings of self-worth and enhance self-esteem. When you are a superachiever, you inevitably act our of ego, which means that your colleagues don't respect you at the bottom, they ignore you in the middle, and they get the daggers out when you are at the top. You just haven't realised yet that the only validation you need is within you.
Caring only about the outcome: Overachievers tend to believe that the only thing that matters is reaching the outcome. They judge themselves by this standard and they also believe that others judge them in the same way. Failure is not just part of the process for an overachiever—it is how they measure their worthiness. Poor outcomes can be devastating, so an overachiever will go to any ends to avoid such failings. When they do reach a goal, an overachiever is more likely to experience feelings of relief that they were able to avoid failing. Rather than feeling pride or joy in their accomplishment, they are simply relieved that they have not failed.
Perfectionism: Overachievers may sometimes become very concerned with being perfect. Not being perfect is a sign of failure, so overachievers sometimes go to almost any length to maintain their perfect image. Just as achievement is usually a good thing, being something of a perfectionist is not always bad news. It often means that you value good work and are committed to doing your best. It is when this perfectionism becomes a source of stress and anxiety that it can start to take a toll on your physical and mental well-being. The Perfection Paradox: Perfectionism is a key feature of compulsive over-striving and being driven to achieve, says psychologist Gordon Flett of York University. Painfully high self-standards may compel overachievers to obsessively pursue success—picture the college student with the 3.9 GPA who can't stop self-flagellating over that one B+. The irony: Though they strive for greatness, most perfectionists are destined for disappointment. "The data on perfectionism and actual performance show little payoff in terms of objective achievement," Flett reports. And when perfectionists do perform exceptionally, he adds, "Many evaluate themselves quite harshly and don't feel especially good about their accomplishments." But high self-standards in one domain do not an overachiever make, and your decades-long quest to play "Little Wing" like Hendrix is not necessarily neurotic. "It's maladaptive when someone is striving to be a perfect person, but it's natural to want to be perfect in the one or two areas that matter most to you," Flett says. So fly on, Little Wing.
Self-criticism: It is normal to be a bit critical at times of our own behaviours and shortcomings. Overachievers, however, have a tendency to berate themselves for failing to live up to their own excessively high expectations. They may set goals that are simply impossible to achieve and then subject themselves to criticism and self-recrimination for failing to live up to these unreachable standards. Being an overachiever may mean that you are more likely to suffer from self-doubt and anxiety. The stress of constantly striving to reach an almost impossible goal coupled with the ever-present fear of failure can be a major source of stress.
Not knowing our needs: Do you know what your needs are? Are you able to articulate them with clarity? Are your needs being met? We don't know what we want so we want what others want. We chase rewards and when we get them we don't find them rewarding as they are not in line with our true purpose. Our true purpose is not to be validated. But that's all we know - it's a survival need.
Future-focussed: Because we are so wrapped up in avoiding negative outcomes, overachievers are always worried about the future. The problem with this is that we regularly neglect the here and now. We do not live in the present because we are too busy worrying about things that may or may not happen later on down the road. We are unable to enjoy things as they happen because we are too busy worrying about what is yet to come.
Working too much: If you find that you are working all the time and it seems like you can never take a break from it, you might be an overachiever. Never taking a vacation, day off, or even a mini-break during the day are all common behaviours for overachievers. Such behaviour patterns may happen from time to time, particularly during busy periods when you feel that you have a great deal to get done. If this behaviour becomes chronic and you don’t seem able to “turn it off” and relax, there is a strong chance that you are pushing yourself too hard. Overachievers regularly stay late at the office, spend all of their time working, and skip out of even simple self-care activities and hobbies in order to work.
Risk-taking: The need to overachieve can become dangerous when people start engaging in risky behaviour in order to reach their goals. Overachievers have a tendency to set goals that are unrealistic. As a result, they may be willing to do almost anything to avoid failure. Unrealistic health goals, for example, can lead to dangerous behaviours that can undermine a person’s overall health. Cutting too many calories to reach a weight loss goal and running too many miles each day in order to prepare for a race are two examples.
Being prone to outbursts of anger: Although not universally the case, the demand to achieve beyond the bounds of expectations can create a tremendous amount of stress - which may result in emotional outbursts when things do not go according to plan. A person who is already on edge may become easily frustrated by co-workers who they feel are holding them back or not pulling their own weight. Losing your temper once in a while is normal, but acting out inappropriately with little provocation can be a sign that you are putting too much pressure on yourself to achieve the impossible.
Taking criticism personally: Critical evaluations of performance are tough for anyone, but they can be particularly devastating to overachievers. To an overachiever, criticism implies failure and failure is an overachiever's greatest fear. If you find yourself taking even the smallest critiques personally, it might be a sign that you need to step back.
Never feeling satisfied: Overachievers are never able to settle down and just enjoy the present. Even after achieving some important goal, they do not take the time to really enjoy their success. All that matters is what comes next. If it seems like you are simply moving from one goal to the next without ever stopping to relish your accomplishments, it is possible that you are an overachiever.
Feeling increasingly overstretched: In addition to working too hard in general, overachievers often become involved in too many projects. They are not satisfied with being skilled in just a few areas - they want to succeed at everything. In school, they are likely to become involved in every club, organisation, or activity that they possibly can. At work, they are likely to volunteer for as many projects or tasks that they can become involved with. Unfortunately, rather than becoming the master of many skills, they may end up being proficient at none. Burnout is also a likely outcome.
Being motivated by fear: There are many different sources of motivation that can compel people to work toward their goals, yet overachievers are often motivated out of fear. Fear of failure, fear of letting other people down, or a fear of looking weak or incompetent. This type of motivation serves as a source of anxiety. Ultimately, you are working hard in order to avoid a negative outcome (failure) rather than achieve a positive outcome (achieving a desired goal). This sort of avoidance-based behaviour often leads to distress, worry, and negative feelings, all of which can have a detrimental impact on your self-worth and confidence.
Origin of overachievers
Consequences of being an overachiever
How do you survive being an overachiever?
How can Transformative Life Coaching (TLC) guide you to safe abundance as an overachiever
Conclusion
Sending you love, light, and blessings.
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Olly Alexander Branford MD, MBBS, MA(Cantab), PhD
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I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have published over 50 peer reviewed scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for four years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.