Anne Wilson Schaef's Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much (C4, N4)

Anne Wilson Schaef wrote Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much for people who have tied their worth to output and cannot stop. She reframes the whole project of a busy life, on its quotes page: "I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to live the width of it as well." The two habits she is trying to loosen are, in the Big Five, two facets.

Doing too much is Achievement-Striving

The engine of overwork is Achievement-Striving (C4), under Conscientiousness, the drive to accomplish and to keep raising the bar. Schaef writes for the high end that has tipped into compulsion, where rest feels like failure. A high scorer measures the day by how much got done and struggles to stop. A lower scorer already lets the width of life matter as much as the length, and reads Schaef as confirmation rather than rescue.

Perfectionism is Self-Consciousness

Underneath the doing is Self-Consciousness (N4), under Neuroticism, the fear of being judged and found wanting. Schaef is severe about where perfectionism leads, on the same page: "Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order." A high scorer polishes endlessly to avoid exposure and pays for it in exhaustion. A lower scorer can let good enough be enough, which is the permission Schaef keeps offering.

Read your C4 and N4 to know how Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much lands. If your achievement-striving runs high, Schaef asks you to live the width of your life as much as its length. If your self-consciousness runs high, she names perfectionism as a wound you keep reopening. Doing too much is rarely about the tasks. Schaef aims at the drive and the fear underneath.

Read the book: Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef.

See Where You Fall

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