12 October 06

Single-mindedness: is it healthy?

I was talking to a friend of mine who recently got a new job in a new industry. He now works in property as a land broker, so he works long and hard hours, and he told me how the company that he now works for drill the concept of thinking about property all the time into him. The idea of even when not working, he still will be thinking about buying and selling. They send him trade magazines to his house, every fortnight, that he will be tested on later. He’s permanently on call, so can never fully relax. The people he works with are also very determined (just like him) and want to instill the same single-mindedness into him too.

Initially, I thought that this kind of mindset would be quite unhealthly for any person. That the brain is not meant to be programmed and conditioned in this way of subconsciously thinking about one thing. But the more that I thought about it, the more I realised that I am the same.

My main interest is internet and technology-related topics, which is why I read sites like Slashdot and Digg, and contribute to projects like .net and jQuery. I’m also lucky enough to be working in an industry that I’m actually interested in, so that my hobby is also my job. But should I actually be doing the hobbies if I’m already working in that area? Is it bad for my mental health to put all my interests into one work-and-hobby-sized basket? Have I been conditioned, like my mate soon will be, into thinking about one thing?

Well, the answer to the last question is obviously yes. Is it good for me? Perhaps. Perhaps not. However, I am just glad that my single-minded conditioning is one that is purely self-inflicted, rather than one that is forced upon me for the sake of a new career path.

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