Good Passion, Bad Passion
It seems that all work and no play is no way to succeed in business -- or life.

Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, a researcher focusing on creativity and achievement, writes that research suggests that the notion that many great works have come about "due to an obsessive focus on work to the exclusion of all else" may be a myth.

In an article originally written for the Harvard Business Review, Kaufman differentiates between harmonious passion -- engaging in work because it brings you "intrinsic joy," but knowing when to disengage so work doesn't conflict with other areas of your life -- and "obsessive passion." The latter involves an "uncontrollable urge" to engage in one's work, leading to conflict between the work passion and other areas of one's life.

Harmonious passion is associated with positive outcomes -- better physical healthy, creativity, concentration, flow, and harmony in other areas of one's life. Obsessive passion leads to negative outcomes -- for example, maybe so much engagement with work that your sex life goes in the hopper -- and, according to a recent study, is more likely to lead to work burnout, while harmonious passion protects against it.

Scott's full articles on this are reprinted at Psychology Today, here and here.