Outcome Addiction: The Habit Almost Everyone Has but No One Talks About
Do you delay sending a message to your boss or client because you’re unsure how they’ll respond?
Do you hold back sharing something with your partner because you worry how the conversation might end?
Do you overthink small daily decisions like asking for help, starting a task, or saying what you really feel because of how someone might react?
If yes, that’s the Outcome Addiction.
WHAT IS OUTCOME ADDICTION?
Outcome Addiction is when your mind gets stuck on the final result before you take action.
You start thinking about the finish line when you haven’t even taken the first step.
You worry about what might happen instead of doing what you can do now.
It sounds harmless.
But it pulls you away from the present and weakens your ability to act.
WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
Your brain hates uncertainty.
It wants to know what will happen next.
So it creates two shortcuts:
Hope — imagining the best-case scenario.
Fear — imagining the worst-case scenario.
Both feel different.
But both drag you out of the moment you’re actually living in.
Think of how you feel when you wait for a reply, a result, or an update.
Your mind runs ahead even when nothing has happened yet.
That’s Outcome Addiction.
WHEN DOES IT SHOW UP?
More often than you think:
- Before sending a message or email.
- Before making a decision.
- Before trying something new.
- When waiting for validation or approval.
- When early results take time.
- When you keep asking yourself “what if” again and again.
By the time you notice it, the moment to act has already passed.
WHERE DOES OUTCOME ADDICTION IMPACT YOU?
Work: Delay, hesitation, and perfectionism.
Relationships: Overthinking and emotional distance.
Health: Inconsistency when results are slow.
Self-worth: Feeling good only when outcomes validate you.
The impact is steady and quiet.
But it affects everything.
Outcome Addiction isn’t a flaw.
You didn’t choose it.
It built itself over years of trying to control the future.
Once you see it, you start moving differently.
If this post made you pause for a moment, you’re already ahead of most people.
Outcome Addiction is one of the patterns we explore in depth in the IntuiWell’s Personal Growth Program, using simple tools to help you understand why these loops form and how they shape your daily decisions.
If you’re curious, here’s the program link:
https://www.intuiwell.com/programs/transform-you-personal-growth-program
or DM me.