Summary

• Impact obsession is a potentially unhelpful way of relating to doing good which we’ve observed among effective altruists, including ourselves. (More)
• What do we mean by impact obsession?
  • One can distinguish unhealthy and healthy forms of impact obsession. (More)
  • Common characteristics include an overwhelming desire for doing the most good one can do, basing one’s self-worth on one’s own impact, judging it by increasingly demanding standards (“impact treadmill”), overexerting oneself, neglecting or subjugating non-altruistic interests, and anxiety about having no or negative impact. (More)
• Is impact obsession good or bad?
  • Many aspects of impact obsession are reasonable and even desirable. (More)
  • Others can have detrimental consequences like depression, anxiety, guilt, exhaustion, burnout, and disillusionment. (More)
• What to do about (unhealthy) impact obsession?
  • Besides useful standard (mental) health advice, potentially helpful strategies involve, for example: reflecting on our relationship with and motives for having impact, integrating conflicting desires, shifting from avoidance to approach motivation, cultivating additional sources of meaning and self-worth, reducing resistance [...]

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Outline:

(05:31 ) Why we wrote this post

(06:21 ) What do we mean by impact obsession?

(06:25 ) Healthy vs. unhealthy impact obsession

(08:25 ) Common characteristics

(08:56 ) Overwhelming desire for maximizing positive impact

(09:41 ) Self-worth and identity are linked to impact

(10:09 ) Personally demanding (or unreasonable) standards

(10:39 ) Excessive comparisons and the impact treadmill

(11:50 ) Pushing oneself too hard and neglecting non-altruistic interests

(12:34 ) Black-and-white thinking

(13:07 ) Frequent worries about (prioritization) mistakes

(13:40 ) Obsessive thoughts about impact

(14:11 ) Impact obsession, clinical perfectionism, and scrupulosity

(15:57 ) Benefits and costs

(16:00 ) Isn’t impact obsession reasonable?

(17:43 ) Benefits

(18:54 ) Potential negative consequences of unhealthy impact obsession

(19:11 ) Depression, feeling worthless or unable to contribute

(21:05 ) Anxiety and guilt

(22:47 ) Burnout and (chronic) fatigue

(25:09 ) Reduced curiosity, excitement, and interests

(27:02 ) Less likely to enter flow states and reduced creativity

(27:58 ) Competitive comparisons, shame, and isolation

(29:13 ) Other risks

(29:51 ) What might help

(31:11 ) Reflect on your relationship with having impact and your conflicting motivations

(32:49 ) Strengthen additional sources of meaning and self-worth

(35:48 ) What about value drift?

(37:25 ) Approach motivation vs. avoidance motivation

(38:51 ) Obligation vs. exciting opportunity

(39:20 ) Focusing on the positive

(41:09 ) Focus less on yourself, compare yourself less

(42:11 ) You want to be the least impactful person in the world

(43:57 ) Leaning into absurdity

(45:22 ) Accepting what we cannot change

(46:31 ) Beware self-improvement perfectionism

(46:57 ) Welcoming and exploring negative emotions with acceptance and curiosity

(50:48 ) Fear and coming to terms with the possibility of having no impact

(53:48 ) Sadness, despair, and guilt

(55:22 ) Feeling like a failure or inadequate

(58:30 ) Replacing self-criticism with self-compassion

(01:00:32 ) Fully commit to rest

(01:00:51 ) Keeping yourself busy with semi-useful tasks

(01:02:08 ) Not committing to rest

(01:03:56 ) It’s fine if you need more rest than others

(01:04:25 ) Other related relevant resources

(01:04:58 ) Acknowledgements

The original text contained 29 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.

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First published:

August 23rd, 2023

Source:

https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/sBJLPeYdybSCiGpGh/impact-obsession-feeling-like-you-never-do-enough-good

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.