It is hard to productively obsess about something that doesn’t genuinely move us or hold our interest, that has no basis in real passion, and that doesn’t meet our meaning-making needs. You might tell yourself that you intend to productively obsess about straightening out the garage or getting some project done that your boss needs completed, but insofar as these tasks hold no particular meaning they are likely to turn into unproductive obsessions rather than productive ones. You might be able to get your mind revved up and build up some internal pressure to get the work done, but in no time what you may find yourself obsessing about is how much you hate straightening the garage or working for your boss.
The productive obsession you want to cultivate should be rooted in love, interest, and a desire to better our shared circumstances. It should be large rather than small, large in the sense that it matches your desires, dreams, goals, and ambitions. Say, for example, that you produce one-of-a-kind water jars but that it’s been your secret ambition to tackle a large ecological art project. If the sale of your water jars pays the rent, they probably regularly push the eco-art project right out of your mind and off the table. This is the way that our large projects get lost and vanish. If you wanted to try your hand at a month of productive obsessing, you might choose the eco-art project even if making that choice involved you in the real risk that your income would dip that month.
Choose an obsession that is grand—or one that at least isn’t too small. Choose an obsession that will gratify you—that genuinely connects to your interests, passions, and existential needs. Choose an obsession with some guts—one that has some weight, some meat on the bones, some heft to it. Choose an obsession with the potential to galvanize you—you want to be awakened, experience your adrenaline flowing, feel revved up and driven. Choose an obsession that amounts to a gamble—if you’re too sure of the outcome, you’re likely to bore yourself.
Choose an obsession with a nameable goal built in. It is one thing to obsess about the nature of warfare and play out mock battles in your head. It is another thing to obsess about recreating the Battle of Gettysburg in a book, about filming a documentary about a current civil war somewhere in the world, or about presenting the best available information to the students you teach. The first obsession amounts to pleasant fantasy; each of the other three point you in the direction of reality.
Obsess about an idea and not about you. There is a world of difference between obsessing on “I wonder if I have it in me to raise money?” and “I wonder how to get third world libraries funded?” There is a profound difference between obsessing on “I wonder if I have any talent?” and “I wonder how I can translate my love of the desert into concrete images?” It is a very different matter to obsess about you and to obsess about the thing you want to tackle. The first is an unproductive obsession; the second is a productive one.
Choose an obsession that feels worthy and grownup. It is easy to argue that our obsession with puzzles “keeps our mind alert” or that our obsession with video games “sharpens our reflexes.” But we know exactly to what extent these aren’t worthy, grownup obsessions. They pass the time in exactly the same way that watching a little television passes the time. They are not generative, they do not provide a net gain, and they do not gear us up for real work. Such pseudo-productive obsessions may serve to pass the time but they do not otherwise serve us. They are splendid in moderation but they are not productive obsession material.
Choose an obsession that you can really gnaw on. You want to feel involved, tested, and stretched. Maybe you think that you would like to “do a little writing” while at the same time harboring the secret wish of writing a full-scale biography of Emma Darwin, someone you find as fascinating as her famous husband. Choose Emma over “a little writing.” Choose an idea that is as large and as great as you are. Even if you do not feel large and great, try to ignore your doubts and dispute your negative self-talk and choose Emma or her equivalent. Choosing “a little writing” will tire you out as soon as you choose it. Choosing Emma may scare you—but once the fright subsides, you will have an idea delicious to gnaw on.
Choose an obsession that is ethically good—one that meets your own moral standards. You may have no real way of knowing if the novel you intend to write or the business you intend to start will prove an ethical plus or a minus: is obsessing a laser into existence a good thing or a bad thing, given that it can be used both by armies and by doctors? Still, try to intuit if your obsession is likely to amount to a moral plus or minus; and if it is long on interest but short on values, skip it. Why violate your own principles for the sake of maintaining your interest when there are other, worthier obsessions to pursue?
Choose an obsession congruent with your current self. People often possess ideas they’ve harbored for a long time that either they’ve pursued to some extent already—the quarter-written novel, the half-finished degree in architecture—or that they have long imagined pursuing but never gotten around to starting. Sometimes those ideas are still the right, rich, and true ideas to pursue—and sometimes they are relics that have little or no present value. Before you choose as your productive obsession an idea from the past, make sure that you are genuinely passionate about it and that it is relevant to your current meaning needs.
Choose an obsession that taps into your natural genius, talents and abilities. Do you have a green thumb but have never allowed yourself to obsess gardens into existence? Are you a frustrated math whiz who could do the math associated with cosmology if you set your mind to it? Are you a splendid organizer who could organize something as large as a D-Day invasion if only you found the right project? If you have a choice between two equally attractive productive obsessions, why not choose the one that allows you to make use of your gifts?
Let’s put all of the above into one “g” sentence: Choose a grand, good, goal-oriented, growthful, gratifying, grownup, gutsy productive obsession that allows you to make use of your natural genius and your gifts, that provides you with something to really grapple with and gnaw on, and that is more a gamble than guaranteed. There you go!
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To learn more about the ideas presented in this blog post, please see two of Dr. Maisel’s titles, Redesign Your Mind: The Breakthrough Program for Real Cognitive Change and Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions
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This post is republished on Medium.
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Photo credit: Shutterstock
