The number one reason CEOs are stuck in addictive-doing

Let’s face it: CEO’s and company owners are juggling many things. As a founder myself, I am there with you. However, what I’ve discovered in my business and personal growth journey, is that there is a big difference between creating a thriving company in a healthy sustained way and running a company with addictive-doing patterns and burning yourself out.

What Is Addictive-Doing? 

If you’re stuck in addictive-doing, it often looks like:

• Over-working
• Over-committing
• Over-prioritising work to the detriment of other important parts of your life, like your health or relationships
• Not taking sufficient breaks during work to rest, recharge, stretch, move or eat
• Perfectionism
• Struggling to switch-off when you’re not at work
• Struggling to relax, even on the weekend or during holidays (that’s if you have them!)
• Feeling agitated if you can’t scroll through your phone or computer
• Experiencing signs of burnout – fatigue, brain fog, overwhelm, drop in productivity and creativity, body pain, headaches, gut issues, insomnia

The Root-Cause Of Addictive-Doing 

Addictive-doing has become the norm in the business and corporate world – with high risks attached to it. Yes society honours “busy” as a badge of honour, a sign of success, but it’s actually not, because it’s destroying the health of many CEO’s and company owners. So what’s the root-cause?

I believe the root-cause lies in deep and hidden dysfunctional beliefs you have about yourself. Beliefs such as: I’m not good enough, I’m unworthy, I’m bad, I’m useless, I’m incapable, I’m unlovable. These beliefs are almost always created in childhood and get stuck and hidden in your unconscious mind, and are literally controlling everything – your thoughts, feelings, behaviours, habits, lifestyle, and yes your work patterns.

My Old Addictive-Doing Patterns 

I was a massive addictive-doer. Even as a teenager and into my 20’s I displayed addictive doing patterns. A chronic study-aholic, overachiever, perfectionist. If I got anything less than an A it was the end of the world. When I started in the world of business, these patterns continued – working crazy hours, staying up late trying to race through projects, putting extremely high-expectations on staff, neglecting my kids and husband, struggling to relax. My body constantly felt like it was stuck in fight-flight, which eventually led to body burnout and “weird” chronic health issues.

Earlier Beliefs That Created Addictive-Doing  

There were some key defining moments when I was a girl, around 6 or 7 years old, that pathed the way for my old addictive-doing patterns. I remember memorising a little 1-minute talk for a presentation I was in. When I stood on the stage, in front of 100 people, I suddenly felt petrified and I couldn’t remember any of the words. I went beetroot red and burst out crying, and had to sit on that stage as all the other children got up to do their talks perfectly. In that moment, I thought to myself: “why can all the other kids do their talks perfectly? There must be something wrong with me!”

From that moment, I created a belief about myself that I was weak and incapable, which later led to addictive-doing patterns. If I worked really hard and I consistently achieved, then I could prove to myself and to the world that I wasn’t weak and incapable. Essentially I developed addictive-doing patterns to hide the greatest fear I had about myself. When I was able to reprogram these deeper unconscious core beliefs, not only was I able to create more balance in my work life, but our company has since been far more successful as I am no longer leading it from a place of fear, but from a deep trust in myself and my abilities.

How To Identify Your Root-Cause? 

If you’ve read this far and all of this is resonating – great! You’re open to receiving a transformation. Here are some key questions you can ask yourself, to start digging into your root-cause. Credit to a past coach I worked with, Jaemin Frazer, for these high-quality coaching questions:

1. What do you want?
2. What dysfunctional patterns of behaviour are you running that are blocking you from getting what you want?
3. What must you believe about yourself in order to continue behaving this way?
4. When was the first time you believed this to be true?
5. What else could be true instead, that will help you get more of what you want?

Written by Filipa Bellette.

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