Are You Addicted To Your Activities? - by Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
Activities - such as sports, creative projects, reading, work, TV, meditation - can be a wonderful way to relax, express yourself, or connect to yourself. Or they can be an addiction. How can you know the difference?

Counseling Issues with Recognized and Unrecognized Gifted Adults by Mary Rocamora
"This article describes the issues most frequently encountered in therapy with gifted and talented adults, particularly those in the performing arts. A distinction is drawn between those clients who knew they were gifted and those who at first did not."

Dealing with the Stereotype of Underachievement - by James Delisle, Ph.D.
The best description I ever heard of the word "lazy" is "people who are not motivated in ways you want them to be." This same description could also be given to the word "underachievement," one of the most overused and misapplied terms used in our field.

Entitled to Be Exceptional  - by Douglas Eby
Psychologist Matina Horner, in a 1969 report on her doctoral dissertation research, identified what came to be called the Horner Effect, or Fear of Success syndrome: that women characteristically under-achieve when competing against men. 

Feeling like an impostor   by Douglas Eby
"Sometimes I wake up at night and go, What were they thinking? Don't they know I'm faking it?"

The Gifted Underachiever - by Josh Shaine
Gifted underachievers are usually lumped in with the rest of a school's malcontents. Teachers, counselors, and administrators look too shallowly for underlying factors, while ascribing too readily mental, physical, or emotional handicaps to underachievers. /// We need to identify the potential hidden behind the problems of these bright and unhappy youngsters, and help our students to recognize and develop their abilities.

The Inner Critic  by Sharon Good

Internal barriers, personal issues, and decisions faced by gifted and talented females - by Sally M. Reis, Ph.D.

Motivational Paralysis - by Anna Caveney

Negative self-talk - by Douglas Eby

The Pain and (half) Pleasures of Rejection - Getting past negative opinions - by Todd Pitock
"Then there are "self-handicappers," people who are so afraid of failing that they manufacture excuses for falling short or even sabotage their own chances in advance, such as the student who stays out all night before a major exam, or the person who tells everyone in advance that they don't care about the result, even when a lot is clearly at stake."
  

Self-Defeating Behavior may be Ruining Your Chances of Success at Home and on the Job - by Loraine O"Connell

Self-Knowledge, Self-Esteem and the Gifted Adult by Stephanie S. Tolan

Self-Sabotage: The Opposite of Self-Care - By Linda Dessau
Have you ever gone out of your way to NOT take care of yourself? Does it ever seem like you're working against yourself? Do you ever ask yourself "Why did I do that??". The dictionary definition of sabotage is "an act or process tending to hamper or hurt" or "deliberate subversion". Hmmm. Why on earth would we sabotage ourselves? That's a complicated answer. And a simple one. We choose to.

Simple and Easy Procrastination Buster - by Deanne Repich
"I'll do it... tomorrow." Sound familiar? Procrastination -- putting things off until the last moment --or beyond the last moment, is a common problem. For anxiety sufferers, procrastination can really do a number on us mentally and physically. It can put our fight or flight response into high gear and trigger a rush of anxiety symptoms. Here's the good news: Procrastination is a habit that you can change!

Sleep and Creativity - By Linda Dessau
In my life, sleep is the number one way that I can either enhance my self-care and nourish myself or defeat my self-care and deplete my energy, peace of mind & productivity all in one shot.

Stop This Secret Self-Sabotage - by Guy Finley
We're often led to act against ourselves by an undetected weakness that goes before us -- trying to pass itself off to others -- as a strength. This is secret self-sabotage. It sinks us in our personal and business relationships as surely as a torpedo wrecks the ship it strikes. Learning how to stop this self-sinking is the focus of this exercise.

Striving for achievement - an interview with Kenneth Christian, Ph.D. - by Douglas Eby
A psychologist and corporate consultant on maximizing personal and organizational potential, Dr. Christian identifies a wide range of challenges people may face in striving for higher levels of achievement and personal meaning. He is author of the book, Your Own Worst Enemy: Breaking the Habit of Adult Underachievement

Summary of Current Research Findings about Underachievement - by Sally M. Reis
First, it appears that underachievement often begins in elementary school, perhaps due to an unchallenging curriculum. There appears to be a relationship between inappropriate or too-easy content in elementary school and underachievement in middle or high school. Second, underachievement appears to be periodic and episodic, occurring in some years and not others, and in some classes but not others. However, increasing episodes of underachievement may produce a more chronic pattern.

Supporting creative achievement - an interview with therapist Lynne Azpeitia -
"The people I see are multitalented, creative and artistic high-achieving persons. ... "People are capable of being expressive, but often they are interfered with or misinterpreted in these areas. So my job is to help them identify when they are in that fluid and creative state, and help them look at how they got there, and on purpose how to make those things happen."

When Having It All Isn't Everything  by Patricia Kitchen
A psychologist theorizes that high fliers feel oppressed by the very achievement they should be proud of.

Women of Talent - Power and Leadership  - by Douglas Eby
In an article of hers, Harriet Rubin notes there can be harmful aspects to pursuing leadership: "Many people are reaching the top, using all of their means to get money, power, and glory - and then self-destructing."