I'm Maura Aronsmeli, and this is The Anxious Achiever.

We look at stories from business leaders who have dealt with anxiety, depression, or other mental health challenges,

how they fell down, how they pick themselves up, and how they hope workplaces can change in the future.

Thank you. up and how they hope workplaces can change in the future. You're loved when you achieve.

How many of you listening instinctively shuddered with recognition when you heard me say that sentence?

Well, if you were raised in an

environment where achievement was important, you may still believe this to be true in your bones,

even if intellectually you know you're more than what you accomplish. How do we even learn to

become overachievers? And who are we doing it all for if not for ourselves today on the show

we're going to unpack the legacy of achievement anxiety and finding out what you really want to

do with your life with Julie Lithcott hames we're going to talk about how to separate what

you've accomplished from who you really are.

Trained as a corporate lawyer, Julie started as dean of freshman and undergraduate advising at

Stanford University and did that work for more than a decade. She is the author of the New York

Times best-selling book, How to Raise an Adult, and her

TED Talk has been viewed millions of times. She is also the author of Real American, a memoir,

where she shares her personal battle with the low self-esteem that American racism routinely

inflicts on people of color.

So, Julie, were you raised in a household that prized academic and professional achievement?

Boy, was I. Let me put it this way. My father had helped eradicate smallpox from West Africa,

and by the time I was nine was Assistant Surgeon General of the United States,

and all while being an African-American male,

...