The Workaholic’s Wine: How Productivity Numbs High Achievers

If I told you I was working late, you’d probably admire my discipline.
If I told you I was pouring a second glass of wine every night, you might worry.

But what if I told you productivity can numb us just as much as another glass of Pinot?

The Respectable Addiction

Most high achievers don’t drink away their dissatisfaction.
They work it away.

It’s the respectable addiction.

·        Alcohol makes you forget.

·        Productivity makes you appear impressive.

·        Both help you avoid yourself.

And the world rewards one of them.

According to Harvard Business Review, nearly 48% of Americans identify as “workaholics.” And the American Psychological Association estimates that work stress costs the U.S. economy $300 billion a year.

But the financial costs aren’t the real tragedy. The deeper cost is spiritual.

The Soul Cost of Productivity

Productivity feels like purpose—until it doesn’t.

The meetings, the projects, the 12-hour days… they aren’t inherently wrong. But when they become your only way of feeling safe, valuable, or worthy, they start to hollow you out.

Because productivity numbs.

·        It numbs the loneliness of being misunderstood.

·        It numbs the ache of unfulfilled purpose.

·        It numbs the silence that might reveal who you really are beneath the performance.

In my own life, I learned this the hard way. When I was directing a theatre company, every two months we put up a new show. There was applause, recognition, visibility.

But in between productions? I padded the calendar with rehearsals, documents, schedules, tasks. Not because they all mattered—but because they made me look like I mattered.

And at the end of the day, I wasn’t fulfilled. I was anesthetized.

Creation vs. Compulsion

Here’s the difference:

✨ Creation flows from presence, alignment, purpose.
⚠️ Compulsion flows from fear, scarcity, the need to prove.

Both can look the same from the outside. But on the inside, one is liberating, the other is numbing.

A Reflection for You

This week, I invite you to ask yourself:

👉 Is my productivity serving me—or sedating me?

Because the world doesn’t need leaders who are constantly proving their value. It needs leaders who are grounded enough to stop performing—and start being.