Comments on: Loving Your Work – Don’t Be Obsessive, Do Be Tough

By: The Book of Wisdom – 101 Posts for the All-Around Balanced Life | Balance In Me

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:18:50 +0000

[...] Loving your work – don’t be obsessive, do be tough [...]

By: Should Your Work Be Your Obsession? — Aliventures

Should Your Work Be Your Obsession? — Aliventures — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:49:33 +0000

[...] been thinking about (mainly creative creative) work and obsession. I wrote about this last week, in Loving Your Work: Don’t Be Obsessive, Be Tough. Several people chimed in with comments, particularly about this paragraph: Although we have terms [...]

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:04:08 +0000

Thanks, Travis. I’m going to write a bit more about the real dangers of getting too obsessed by your work (probably later on today). Will see if I can come up with some sort of label for creative obsession (I wonder if it’s almost close to being possessed or consumed by the work).

Yes, pacing is really important. I really struggle to do good work when I’m just flat-out tired of working: and if I take several days’ break from writing, I always come back refreshed and raring to go!

By: Travis

Travis — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:12:47 +0000

Ali, you bring up a very good point that we have no term to describe obsessive creative people beyond the generic “workaholic” label- and the even better point that getting rabidly obsessed with your work without critical distance is going to make your suck!

It’s all about pacing ourselves for the long term, even though our emotional human minds can’t really grasp it- we can’t really know what our work will feel like down the road. But how we feel matters. Have you ever churned out truly top-notch work while you were burnt out with your work? I highly doubt it.

Pacing is gold.

By: Ali

Ali — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:27:19 +0000

J.D, interesting thought on passion as fuel — that suggests it needs replenishing (which I think it does, especially when passion’s linked with creativity).

Barbara, you’re welcome! I’m sorry to hear about your family — it is perfectly legitimate (and, to me, more so) to be an artist who is a rounded person, rather than someone obsessed. If nothing else, art needs life, or it can become very inward-looking.

Farouk, cheers!

By: Farouk

Farouk — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:50:58 +0000

great as usual ali

By: Get Your Hands Dirty – How To Commit To Your Goals

Get Your Hands Dirty – How To Commit To Your Goals — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:13:34 +0000

[...] Loving Your Work over at Aliventures [...]

By: Barbara Day

Barbara Day — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:31:31 +0000

“Although we have terms like workaholic to describe people who fall into this trap with career-related work, I’m not sure that we have a corresponding way to talk about artists and creative types who succumb to obsession. We might feel that musicians, painters and writers should approach their craft in an obsessive way: we think this is good for them and for the work.”

THANK YOU for making the distinction between being obsessive and taking a more well-rounded approach to creative work.

I come from a family of artists where only those who work obsessively are considered “real” artists. Those of us who may have loads of creativity but also take time to manage other aspects of our lives are considered non-artists. Thanks for the alternate view on this…

By: J.D. Meier

J.D. Meier — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:32:53 +0000

Passion is definitely the fuel and it’s how we blast through the tough stuff and make the most of what we’ve got.
J.D. Meier´s last blog ..Sites I Follow for Insight and Inspiration

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:18:14 +0000

Therese, glad you found me, and welcome! I usually write one guest post a month for Alex, so you’ll see me pop up there once in a while too. I love your three S’s … that’s a great way to keep a focus on having the crucial internal-time that we need to stay sane. It’s going to be a good few years before I think about kids, and I have huge admiration for people like you who are juggling work and little ones!

Jen, cheers! And really glad you’re finding a balance with blogging; I totally burnt-out on my first attempt at a “professional” type blog, it just ended up being a chore and a bit of an albatross around the neck…

Chloe, how sad to hear about Hazel, especially because yes, I agree that it sounds like something which could’ve been headed off. I wish we didn’t have this rather macho element where people feel that working insanely hard is a *good* thing. I do it a bit myself, and it is neither healthy nor, in the long run, at all productive! I do wonder whether sometimes people get a bit depressed or down, throw themselves into their work, and then perpetuate the cycle.

Glad you agree on responsible artistry. There’s this myth that real genius creative types just can’t pay any attention to things like taxes and rent etc… I’m extremely unconvinced by that! That’s not genius, that’s plain irresponsibility.