Overfunctioning: The Drive to Do it All, or When Helping Others Is Hurting You

Help your colleague fix a bug, remind the sales team to follow up with a prospect, write a detailed brief for the marketing intern, share a list of healthy recipes with your spouse, plan out a fun day for you and your friend this weekend… If your to-do list looks like this, you may be overfunctioning.

Overfunctioning refers to feeling overly responsible for family, friends, and coworkers, which leads to trying to proactively solve problems and taking on too many tasks, even if the other person is perfectly capable of doing those tasks themselves.

This behavior can paradoxically increase anxiety. By constantly taking on others’ responsibilities, we add pressure to keep everything running smoothly. Over time, overfunctioning can lead to burnout as we deplete our energy managing not only our own lives but also the life of others.

While not an official psychological diagnosis, overfunctioning is closely linked to anxiety. We overfunction to manage our own worries, believing that taking on the responsibilities of others reduces the chance of something going wrong.

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