Hyper-doing? Hyper-don’t — Sage Perspectives Blog

By Clare Bostock

Is your to-do list growing longer and controlling your life? Do you measure the success of a day by how much you have achieved? Are you finding it difficult, or guilt-provoking, to take rest? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you are almost certainly “hyper-doing”. In fact, I think that many academics, authors, researchers, and health-care professionals are “hyper-doers”. I’m so good at hyper-doing that, ironically, I wrote an article on it.

Having spent years striving for better work-life balance, one of my early solutions was maximising efficiency. I am incredibly efficient and productive. You may be familiar with the saying: “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” But it can become a problem for that busy person who is then asked to do more - the efficiency trap. I am prompt at responding to emails, so I am more likely to receive emails. Being a master of hyper-doing isn’t necessarily a good thing. One of my problems is that I try to cram in so many tasks that it adversely affects my punctuality. I have created a table of other signs of hyper-doing.

In my ongoing search for balance, I discovered a series of podcasts by life-coach Rebecca Olson. Olson coined the term “hyper-doing”, which she describes as part of a triad of over-working behaviours that include “people pleasing” and perfectionism. Olson states that hyper-doing is characterised by three traits: inability to rest, struggling to be present, and never feeling satisfied.

We need an antidote to hyper-doing. We need to learn to “hyper-don’t”. This is where the work of Madeleine Dore comes in, and her book: “I didn’t do the thing today”. Dore spent years interviewing creative people about their days, in a search for the secret to productivity. She found that instead there is no secret: we should “embrace the joyful messiness and unpredictability of life”.

In a quest against hyper-doing, I have found it helpful to schedule proper rest and time away from my mobile phone. I find power in listing the things that I am not going to do. What's your favourite or recommended way to hyper-don't?