The life of an overachiever

In my early 20’s I was studying Power Engineering at University, aiming to only get straight A‘s to all my exams (14 courses each year), blogging about style & fashion on the side, hoping to get invited to major fashion weeks and receive free products to review, volunteering in a students’ organization to militate for women’s rights in the engineering field which got me to travel all over Europe. At the same time, together with my (now) husband, we started about 7 online companies, from selling handmade jewelry to custom made prom dresses, marketing services, and sexy lingerie. Don’t forget, we also hand-crafted organic teaboxes. And I had 2 jobs each summer, with 80h work weeks.

If your brain hurts just by reading the words above, imagine how fried mine was by doing it all PERFECTLY.

I had no stop button. I had no idea what ENOUGH meant. I always had to be better and do more and have more than anyone else and even when I got to the finish line, another huge goal was in front of me.

I used to get up at 6:30 am and go to bed around 1 pm. I went to less than 5 parties in all my 4 years of university. I was recognized as SUCCESSFUL and a great example that other students should follow.

And yes, I had a lot of pride and felt so good knowing I was so much better than everyone else. Even my husband could not keep up with me and for his own sanity, he did not try.

BUT, was I happy? Or healthy? Not really. I was always rushing through life to accomplish goal after goal. I never had time to smell the roses, heck I did not even see the roses. In my world, there were only endless to-do lists and a huge pride in doing it all.

The Spark That Ignited All

My life needed to change. I was gaining weight, my relationship was shaking, and before my last exam in my third year of university, I had my first panic attack. If you never had one, imagine losing complete control of your thoughts and not being able to calm down. If you had one, I am sure you can understand how a control freak like me was on the verge of desperation.

This experiences forced me to start therapy. I used to read self-development books and buy online courses a few years before this happened, but this time I was in need of way more emotional work and no book or online course would do it. Sometimes personalized help is the best help.

During my therapy sessions, I learned to be imperfect. I learned to accept not doing it all. I learned to relax and be happy with who I am, what I have without judgment. At the same time, I enrolled in a business school program where each seminar was lead by an entrepreneur and that helped me become more confident and serious about shifting to the entrepreneurial life myself.

During my last year of studies at the University, I stopped going to classes and invested all my time, money and energy in the only thing I knew how to do (besides crazy math and physics) – blogging. At the same time, in therapy, I realized that I have excellent skills in becoming a coach and teaching people. So I planned on making enough money to survive without getting a job, after graduating, while studying to become a certified coach.

As with any of my goals, this one came to life too, and I still managed to graduate as a valedictorian.

Health Success Coach

My successful coaching career would not have been possible without going to school and studying to be a coach. Yes, intuitively I had all the skills to be a good coach, but becoming a GREAT one needed proper teachers. I do owe the confidence and knowledge to Institute of Integrative Nutrition, NY – the largest integrative nutrition school in the world.

After being a certified Health Coach for almost two years, I noticed that all my clients after we finished our 6-month program shared the same results, besides getting fitter and healthier than never before:

• they made more money and saved more money
• they quit their jobs and found better ones
• some started their own companies
• they had loving relationships
• their confidence and self-esteem was off the roof
• they felt at peace, grateful and in love with life
• they knew how to focus and achieve more by doing less

My husband was the one who pointed it out to me, and after some thinking, and 14 months of writing my best selling book, I realized that although I am very good at telling people what to eat and how to heal their bodies, I was way better at telling people how to become successful in every area of their lives.

This is when I decided to call myself a “Success Coach” and focused all my energy on teaching people what success is, how to be successful and how to maintain being successful no matter of economy, politics or place on the map. 

Of course, all my knowledge that makes me the great coach I am today did not stop after graduating coaching school, in fact since then, I invested in other amazing online courses, like Bschool with Marie Forleo, Money Bootcamp with Denise Duffield-Thomas and worked with a few high-end coaches.

But the best and most important lessons cannot be bought. They come in life experience. I am young, but the Universe has put me through so many difficult situations that I had to grow fast and become the person who is able to stand here successfully today in front of you. My clients continually say how wise beyond my years I am, and that is all thanks to my own life lessons at an early age.