--- title: The Psychology of Do Something Syndrome description: The key is to try and realize when we are doing it and back away canonical: https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/ author: Shane Parrish article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-17T11:00:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:32.186Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Curse of the 'Do Something' Syndrome og:description: The key is to try and realize when we are doing it and back away og:url: https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d03dcabaa255fa/69885aabf887dcf9cde9154e/people-moving.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 507 og:image:height: 285 og:image:alt: people-moving og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Curse of the 'Do Something' Syndrome twitter:description: The key is to try and realize when we are doing it and back away twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d03dcabaa255fa/69885aabf887dcf9cde9154e/people-moving.jpg?branch=production&width=507&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Curse of the 'Do Something' Syndrome > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: A History Of The Minimum Wage [Watch (HLS stream): A History Of The Minimum Wage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8) (3:56)  _Published 2014-02-28. See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history._ by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  Crowd walking Crowd walking Getty Images by [Shane Parrish](https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/) ## Shane Parrish Jul 17, 2015 11:00 AM UTC “We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” — Roman satirist Petronius Arbiter I was flipping back through one of my favorite books, [Seeking Wisdom](https://www.poorcharliesalmanack.com/seeking%5Fwisdom.php), when I came across this quote in the section where Bevelin talks about ‘Do Something Syndrome.’ There is something almost poetic in the way that Petronius so succinctly captures a phenomenon that most of us have been through. There are numerous reasons why someone may choose action over the more logical course of inaction — some conscious and others subconscious. We may, for instance, act on bad advice when we [haven’t done the work to understand a problem](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/04/the-work-required-to-have-an-opinion/), we may succumb to peer pressure, the idea that ‘everyone is doing it,’ we may follow our hearts (and buy that fancy car we really want instead of keeping the reliable one we have), blindly follow the lead of an expert, or, perhaps most dangerously, we may simply [want to appear like we are doing something](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/10/iatrogenics/). Maybe we just can’t sit still. This idea isn’t new. “I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to sit quietly in his room.” — Blaise Pascal We all have moments where we fall victim to the curse of Do Something Syndrome. In fact the modern organization is [full of do something syndrome](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/04/opinions-and-organizational-theory/). The key is to try and realize when we are doing it and back away. So next time you feel the urge to do something for the sake of doing something remember these words of wisdom from Bevelin: --- > “” --- **Still curious?** Most of what you’re going to do today [is not essential](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2013/10/what-you-do-today-is-not-essential/). **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Farnam Street_**](https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/06/do-something-syndrome/)**_._** **Join over 60,000 readers and get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://www.farnamstreetblog.com/newsletter/)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/"},"headline":"The Curse of the 'Do Something' Syndrome","datePublished":"2015-07-17T11:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:32.186Z","description":"The key is to try and realize when we are doing it and back away","url":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/","keywords":["Psychology","society","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d03dcabaa255fa/69885aabf887dcf9cde9154e/people-moving.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shane Parrish","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/shane-parrish/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d03dcabaa255fa/69885aabf887dcf9cde9154e/people-moving.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"people-moving","caption":"people-moving","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/","name":"The Curse of the 'Do Something' Syndrome"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A History Of The Minimum Wage","description":"See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KFNoRaXc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-02-28T17:21:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/","duration":"PT3M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3956212/the-curse-of-the-do-something-syndrome/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```