If you’re following me on Twitter, you’ll know I’m doing a lot of creative work at the moment. The next few months are a good time for me to focus hard on my novel, and I probably sound quite obsessed at the moment – with word counts, hours spent, plot problems resolved…

So I’ve 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 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.

And then, basking in the glow of everyone agreeing with me (ah, if only this would always happen in real life…), I read Jonathan Mead’s post How to Make a Living Out Of Your Obsession (over on Productive Flourishing), where he wrote:

Each day now, I actually wake up excited to start work. No, I’m not kidding. I eat and breathe what I do. For me, there are no boundaries. And the only way I’ve done that is by being obsessed with what I do.

And this is supposed to be a good thing? There were plenty of comments over on Jonathan’s post in favour. But I’m still very unconvinced. Yep, I can see why Jonathan’s touting obsession (aside: is this the new “passion” in the personal development blogosphere?) but I’m not with him on it.

Obsession Can Be Good (in the Short Term)

Now, I can see why “being obsessed with what [you] do” could be helpful. You might get some useful benefits like:

Concrete Focus

If you’re obsessed, it’s pretty darn easy to focus. You’re not going to be fighting constant impulses to stop what you’re doing. You won’t be easily distracted. You’ll wake up focused on doing your work, and other considerations – like the laundry or the housework or that cute guy/girl at the gym – aren’t going to be any distraction.

Easy Energy

Jonathan says he wakes up excited about work, and I believe him: I get a real sense of his energy and enthusiasm in his writing. An obsession can give you the energy to jump out of bed, to power through the day, to carry on even when you’d normally be flagging. If you’re obsessed, maybe you don’t need to worry about trying to do your good creative work at your best times of day – you’ll just carry on going.

Getting Into “Flow”

I don’t manage this all that often with fiction writing, but it’s great when I do: I lose track of time, I’m very much in the moment, and I forget about all those nagging little questions like “what’s for dinner?” and “what’s happening on Twitter?” I tune out conversations, music, traffic noise. I can do something similar with a book I’m really into, or (less laudably) with computer games.

However … these benefits are short term. Sure, when I’m really into my novel, I’m keen to get up and get on with work; I find myself focusing more easily and achieving flow more often. But I don’t spend an entire week, or even an entire day, writing fiction. If I did, I’d quickly get exhausted. I’d run out of energy and ideas, and the writing would begin to feel much more like a chore than a treat.

Obsession Won’t Work Long Term

Maybe it’s fun to be obsessed. Maybe it makes your work feel terribly important, giving you a nice masochistic blend of stress and self-righteousness. Over the long term, though, being obsessed isn’t good for you, it isn’t good for your work, and it isn’t good for the people around you.

Unbalanced Life

Being obsessed with something means, by definition, that you’re focusing on it to the exclusion of pretty much everything but the bare essentials in the rest of your life. When you’re obsessed with your work, you might not sleep enough, eat healthily, or take enough exercise (I know my exercise levels drop off dramatically when I’m “too busy” with my terribly important and engaging work…)

Selfishness

Closely related to this lack of balance is selfishness. Putting your work on a pedestal because it’s your obsession might feel noble, but it’s not. Obsession is  a convenient excuse to make your work the focus of your life and the lives of everyone around you. (And yeah, I’m guilty of this; when I’m busy with work, Paul ends up doing more of the housework to support me. I’d rather write than clean, and it’s very tempting to take advantage.)

No Distance From Work

If you can’t ever get any distance from your work, then both you and the work will suffer. I take holidays from writing: we’re planning a walking break over Easter when I won’t touch a computer for a few days. I’ll have whole days when I write very little. I need this time and space to recharge my batteries. I also need it to get some critical perspective on what I’m writing. If I was properly obsessed with my work, I wouldn’t be able to leave it alone.

Burn Out

Ultimately, obsession leads to burn out. Working too hard for too long isn’t good for you – even if you love your work. If you’re going to have innovative ideas in your business, if you’re going to have that spark of creative energy for your art, then you simple cannot be obsessive about your work. Sure, you can have whole mornings or afternoons or days or weekends when you throw yourself into a project – but then take it easy. Let it go. Reconnect with the rest of your life.

Of course your work matters. But so does your health, your relationships, your happiness.

In the end, you are in charge. If it feels like your life is being dictated by your work, or that your work has become your entire life, you need to pull back. Take a whole weekend off. Do some deep, quiet thinking – going beyond those rushing, circling thoughts which come with obsession.

I don’t want to make a living out of my obsession. I want to have my life, and have it fully: I want to love my work, but not to be defined by it.