Being passionate about your work, like Shark Tank's Kevin O’Leary, can be incredibly rewarding — but when enthusiasm turns into nonstop work, it can quickly take a toll on your health, relationships, and well-being. O’Leary, who proudly works even while on vacation and expects his employees to do the same, highlights a growing trend: the blurring of work and personal life.
And he’s not alone. Other high-profile CEOs, like Alibaba’s Jack Ma — who called China’s extreme overtime culture a "huge blessing" — and Tesla’s Elon Musk — who claimed that working less than 120 hours a week isn’t an option for success — also glorify relentless work schedules. In a world that increasingly celebrates constant availability, burnout may be closer than you think.
Yet research shows the opposite approach leads to better results. Fully disconnecting from work is essential for recharging, boosting performance, and protecting long-term health. In today's hustle culture, learning to set real boundaries isn’t just good for you — it’s critical for your success and survival.
Two sorts of passion
Finding a balance between time spent at work and at home doing other things is not that easy. Especially when you are passionate about your work. For some, like Kevin O’Leary I guess, this is not a problem. For other passionate workers, with the work / private life balance shifted towards the work side of the equation, a burnout can be on the horizon.
According to a study by Robert Vallerand (The Dualistic Model of Passion), there are two sorts of passion.
The first is known as “harmonious passion”. Persons with harmonious passion for work truly enjoy the work they are doing. Harmonious passion is from a genuine satisfaction in one’s work. Those with harmonious passion manage to integrate their work with other activities in life, and are in control of the work they are doing. This also means that they know when to switch off from work, and enjoy other pleasures of life.
I guess Kevin O’Leary falls into this category.
The second form of passion is known as “obsessive passion”. Obsessive passion is driven by the need to prove oneself to others. Working hard to prove that you deserve a promotion or a salary rise, for example. Working many hours per week is considered valuable by society. So those with obsessive passion have the feeling that they are obliged to work hard. They cannot control this feeling. As a result of feeling the need for working hard, they notice a conflict between work and other activities in life. No time for family, friends or hobbies.
Most passionate workers fall into this category, and are at much higher risk of developing a burnout than those with harmonious passion.
The outcomes of the two types of passion are thus very different. Harmonious passion leads to higher levels of physical and mental health, creativity, concentration, and positivity. These effects spill over into other areas of daily life. Obsessive passion often has negative consequences. Failure to stop thinking about work, feeling irritated or even frustrated when not being able to work, continuing working even when it is risky for health to do so. Those with obsessive passion often include work in their self-concept, giving form to their identity.
Work we love, not really work?
I am sure you have heard of the idea that when you love the work that you do, you never work a single day in your life. It is probably what Kevin O’Leary meant when he said that his life is vacation, during which he happens to work.
This idea, although popular, is unfortunately not corroborated by the facts. It is wrongly based on the assumption that when you love the work you do, you should do it all the time. Work would make you feel happy, energize you, and the need to rest or to take a break fades away in the distance.
However, work that we are passionate about can at times feel like work, not holidays. It can be rewarding, thrilling or engaging one day, and frustrating or overwhelming the next. Then it helps to take a break, to re-energize yourself and get ready for continuing your job.
Which passionate workers are most at risk for getting a burnout?
The Mayo Clinic has a list of burnout risks. Two of the points on the list seem to be really important for people who are passionate about their work. One is “You identify so strongly with work that you lack balance between your work life and your personal life”. The other is “You work in a helping profession”.
If you can relate to one of these two points, you are at elevated risk of developing a burnout. It is therefore not surprising that nurses, physicians, teachers and principals, non-profit employees and mission-focused executives are some of the people most at-risk for burnout. They seem to be motivated by purpose-based work, choosing their profession with the genuine passion to help others or the company or institution they are working for.
To illustrate this with an example, a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that physicians are under a lot of stress, many of them having a burnout, and, alarmingly, that about 300 to 400 physicians take their own lives every year. And this is only in the US! And in The Netherlands, 20% of the general practitioners are burned out, but continue to work nevertheless. Now that is passion and devotion! But also a huge danger for their own health.
Employees and self-employed people who are driven by purpose are typically passionate workers. Purpose-driven employees are warmly welcomed by their superiors in any organization, as they are heavily engaged with their work and will put in many hours to get the job done. It is not for nothing that nowadays many organizations position themselves as purpose-driven institutions, on the lookout for purpose-driven collaborators. There are even courses out for managers to learn how they can change their organization to form a purpose-driven enterprise. It is often advertised that employees will work without serious stress problems in purpose-driven organizations, because their purpose in work (and life) aligns with that of the company. It is even said that purposeful work is more important for employees than the height of their salary!
This reasoning is in line with the idea that when you love the work you do, you don’t really work. As we have seen, the pitfall here is that most people who are passionate about their work, especially those with obsessive passion or are purpose-driven, do need to take a break at times. They cannot find the proper balance between time to work and time to do other things. This gives a lot of stress leading to burnout, also in purpose-driven organizations.
Disconnect from work
Therefore, obsessive, passionate, purpose-driven employees need help setting boundaries to what they can and will do. It is the task of managers, and family members or friends, to help define where the limits are, or when it is time to pack the suitcase for a well-deserved vacation. It is important for everyone to be able to disconnect from work to reduce stress and prevent burnout.
