What even is obsession and how do I recognise it?

Obsession gets a lot of bad press.

Obsession gets a lot of bad press. It’s described by Google as ‘an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind’.

You see, that sounds pretty terrifying. As if obsession is some kind of demonic force that possesses you and can’t in any way be controlled. Or some kind of parasite that sucks the mental energy out of you. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Some forms of obsession can be damaging, especially if you have a disorder like OCD which is a serious medical condition. Obsession is powerful and can even be dangerous, but much like nuclear power or radiation, if it’s used correctly, I believe it can change lives for the better. 

In my mind, obsession is pure energy that usually stems from love, and just like love it comes in many forms, sometimes fleeting and intense, sometimes long-lasting and comforting. It can be a bedrock that you build on or an overnight romance, and much like either of those, if you treat it with respect, obsession can change your life for good. 

In 2013, Rosemary Fisher, Alex Maritz and Antonio Lobo of Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, conducted a study that they entitled Obsession in Entrepreneurs – Towards a Conceptualisation. The aim of their study was to find out if ‘entrepreneurial obsession’ contributed to productive outcomes for the entrepreneurs, as well as to try to understand in more depth the part that passion and obsession played in entrepreneurship. 

The experiment was simple. They gathered a selection of ten entrepreneurs as well as five ‘referees’ for each person who knew them well. They asked the entrepreneurs open-ended questions to allow them to elaborate and then coded the results. These questions ranged from broad topics such as ‘How would you describe yourself?’ to questions specific to obsession like ‘Does being obsessively passionate benefit you?’

They then followed up by asking the referees a similar set of questions about the entrepreneurs to get a third-party perspective. Things like ‘Does E’s passion help or hinder them in their business?’

Interestingly, in conducting the experiment, they acknowledged that only ‘disordered obsession’ was well researched and that more quantitative studies were needed to draw further conclusions in the area of obsession and its potential benefits.

Regardless, their initial findings were clear. Whilst most entrepreneurs acknowledged that obsession was a double-edged sword, they all in some way alluded to the fact that it was obsessive passion that drove them. 

In the researchers’ words: ‘We see that elaborated intrusions (obsessive thoughts) can maintain goal-related behaviour over time and facilitate planned responses designed to assist in acquiring the desired target.’ They continue: ‘Our results indicate that venture-related thoughts do contribute to the affective motivational foundation the entrepreneurs use to keep themselves focused and persistent despite challenges.’

More specifically, their research showed that most entrepreneurs acknowledge that obsession can have negative effects, but part of the journey is to learn to manage that obsession so that it doesn’t do you harm and instead helps with success.

The researchers add: ‘Our data suggests that the entrepreneurs learn to adapt to their venture-related intrusive thoughts, recognising the necessity of doing so. Thus, the possibility of an ultimately productive outcome from the obsession exists, despite potential for experiences of negative affect or feelings of anxiety or distress. Such productive outcomes are generally described as entrepreneurial success.’

Whichever way you cut it, obsession is largely misunderstood. Especially in an academic context. However, when you begin to look at things anecdotally, you can see that the world is full of examples of high-profile obsessives who have made amazing things. From Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, one of the highest grossing actors in Hollywood, who works out every night even when he’s tired, to Steve Jobs and his obsession with design or Jeff Bezos and his obsession with customers, wherever you look it’s easy to see obsession driving powerful people forward.

Obsession is beautiful. It’s what makes art. 

Joss Whedon