Obsessiveness Can Be a Secret Productivity Superpower
A one-track mind is a good thing, once you learn to control what you focus on
Obsessive thinking is something I’m very, very familiar with, which is why I can say that it doesn’t totally deserve its bad rap. While this might sound strange, I’ve come to appreciate the way my mind fixes on one topic at a time and doesn’t let go. A one-track mind, I’ve found, can be a creativity secret weapon.
Don’t get me wrong — of course obsessive thinking can be extremely unproductive. During my entire sophomore year of high school, for example, I expended an inhuman amount of energy brooding over an unrequited crush. “Does he like me?” became my relentless, and totally pointless, internal monologue. I wish my teenage brain had been able to fixate on, I don’t know, nailing trigonometry, or getting my driver’s license, or anything with better returns than making sure to be in the same spot in the same hallway every single morning so that I’d see my crush walk by.
But recently, I’ve learned how to direct my obsessions. After years of putting my writing career on hold to be home with my children, my obsessive thoughts tended toward the unhelpful — worrying about my kids, or fixating on finances — until eventually, I hit a breaking point. I made a conscious decision to…
