{"id":96,"date":"2014-11-26T14:06:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T14:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:15:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:15:27","slug":"when-success-backfires-the-downside-of-type-a-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/?p=96","title":{"rendered":"When Success Backfires: The Downside of Type A Personality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Raise your hand if you\u2019ve ever been told (or told someone else) one of these &#8220;pearls of wisdom&#8221;:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Success takes hard work\u2014nothing&#8217;s handed to you on a silver platter.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;If you don&#8217;t study hard and get good grades, you&#8217;ll be flipping burgers for the rest of your life.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;Time is money.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Once I&#8217;m settled in my career and made my fortune, then I&#8217;ll relax and enjoy life.&#8221; (Usually said after missing another fun weekend with friends and family).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And what do these life mottos create? A battalion of caffeine-fueled, overachieving workaholics sprinting to outrun everyone else\u2014until life benches them in a hospital bed with stress-induced heart palpitations. Psychologists have a name for this breed of hustle junkie: the good old <strong>Type A Personality<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People with a Type A Personality are defined by two main traits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Achievement striving<\/strong>\u2014competitiveness, perfectionism, and relentless drive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Impatience\/irritability<\/strong>\u2014hostility, time urgency, tough-mindedness, and a hunger for rewards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The achievement side can fuel productivity and success\u2014until it tips into overdrive, creating workaholics and overachievers. The impatience\/irritability side is often the most toxic: a constant need to get things done <em>yesterday<\/em>, difficulty trusting or relying on others, and an insatiable craving for money, status, and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Looking at data from 7,500 people who took our <a href=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/type-a-personality-profile-2nd-revision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Type A Personality Test<\/a>, several patterns stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Gender:<\/strong> Women report greater <em>time urgency<\/em>, while men tend to be more <em>competitive<\/em>, <em>tough-minded<\/em> (rigid in thought and less comfortable with emotion), and driven by external rewards like money, power, and status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Age:<\/strong> Traits such as competitiveness, hostility, tough-mindedness, perfectionism, achievement striving, and impatience\/irritability all <strong>peak between ages 25\u201329<\/strong>, then steadily decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Income &amp; work habits:<\/strong> High earners ($100,000+) scored highest on all Type A traits, suggesting that more money often comes at the cost of more pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Satisfaction &amp; performance:<\/strong> Interestingly, both top performers who love their jobs <em>and<\/em> low performers who hate their jobs scored equally high on competitiveness and drive. The key difference? Their <strong>success orientation<\/strong>\u2014the mindset that shapes how their ambition plays out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Type As can achieve incredible things, the downside is clear: they often push so hard for the next win that they don\u2019t stop to enjoy the last one. To others, they may come across as abrasive, impatient, and self-absorbed. And when they finally &#8220;relax,&#8221; they turn even leisure into a competition\u2014running faster, playing harder, and still refusing to slow down. For many, this relentless cycle ends up costing relationships, health, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Got Type As on your team? You know\u2014the go-getters who turn even coffee breaks into competitions. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/corporate\/tests\/type-a-personality-profile-2nd-revision\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TAPP (Type A Personality Test)<\/a> can flag them, and coaches can help steer that energy toward results instead of burnout. Ready to rein in the overdrive? <a href=\"https:\/\/calendly.com\/ilonajerabek\/20-min-discovery-call-360-with-dr-ilona-jerabek\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/calendly.com\/ilonajerabek\/20-min-discovery-call-360-with-dr-ilona-jerabek\">Book<\/a> a free 20-minute coaching consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Type A people chase achievement like a sport\u2014and burn out before the finish line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employee-well-being"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":786,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archprofile.com\/archprofile_blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}