Anonymous wrote:A hard worker finds something they love to do and work at it because they love it and are successful.

A striver looks at what others do to gain money and/or power and they try to imitate it.

A striver finds out what all the check boxes are for success and try to check all the boxes.

My son, for example, loves to play the trumpet and he excelled at it. He begged me to practice and we begged him to stop. 😀 He got a scholarship to a top university because of his passion. He as kss as I pl as us 10 other instruments but not as well.

Other kids hated playing an instrument but did because they thought it would help with college admissions. They checked every box... SAT prep.., check, instrument check, sport... check ... volunteer, check. None with more EC’s, better SATs, higher GPA got into as better university. They are going to a great colleges and they are fine with where they ended up (their parents... not so much). But they (thr parents) all bemoan that my son with just Trumpet 🎺 got into a better college.

Anonymous wrote:They used to be called YUPPIES in the 80s and 90s.

Young, upwardly mobile, professionals

Anonymous wrote:^^oh, and I disagree with your definition of strivers, but you do you and continue the judging.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is a slam against people who plug away and try. Strivers are people who are diligent, exert effort, dot their i's and cross their t's, they do the right things, they try to do/say the right things, they are the backbone, they obey the laws, etc. My husband and I are strivers.

None of that sounds striver-y to me. That’s just normal person stuff. I think of strivers as erroneously believing that people in such-and-such neighborhood/school/job/etc are better/happier/cooler than they are and they’re dying to fit in. It comes from a place of insecurity and the ultimate point, should they ever “arrive,” is just to rub it on the faces of people they left behind. Joke’s on them though, because it turns out none of those people are better/happier/cooler and everyone they left behind will laugh at them and call them strivers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's what you call a successful person you don't like. My dad used to call the Clintons "strivers" because he didn't like their politics. The funny thing about this is that my dad was also born poor, in Arkansas, put himself through college, and went on to become a successful businessman. He's as much of a striver as Bill Clinton, but since he didn't like Clinton's politics, my dad felt like the man's ambition was unseemly.

The word says more about the speaker than the subject.

Amen to that!

Anonymous wrote:It is a slam against people who plug away and try. Strivers are people who are diligent, exert effort, dot their i's and cross their t's, they do the right things, they try to do/say the right things, they are the backbone, they obey the laws, etc. My husband and I are strivers.

Anonymous wrote:It's what you call a successful person you don't like. My dad used to call the Clintons "strivers" because he didn't like their politics. The funny thing about this is that my dad was also born poor, in Arkansas, put himself through college, and went on to become a successful businessman. He's as much of a striver as Bill Clinton, but since he didn't like Clinton's politics, my dad felt like the man's ambition was unseemly.

The word says more about the speaker than the subject.

Anonymous wrote:I have heard about this on DCUM but not in real live. Is it the same as a social climber?