A few years ago, someone was saying, "These long hours are killing me. I want to travel. I want a life outside work." Later, that same person is saying, "What would you even do with yourself if you left after 6 hours? Play games? Scroll your phone? Eight hours is basically a cushy job." It's a horror story where the monster you were running from turns out to be your future self. That said, you can't look at a few social media posts and diagnose "their workplace changed how they think." Here, I'll break down the general mechanisms that could make a shift like this possible, based on research.
Part 1: The Path to Becoming a Demon
1. The Effort Paradox: Effort Is a Cost, but Also Something We Value
Given the same result, people normally pick the easier way. If a dishwasher gets the plates just as clean, pressing a button for a few minutes makes more sense than 30 minutes of washing by hand. Even so, humans tend to rate results more highly when they took effort, and even learn to value effort itself. [R1] The math should be "result 100 minus cost 20," but then a bonus of "look how hard I worked, +30" gets added on top.
2. "If You Can Work Hard, You're a Good Person": The Moralization of Effort
Across 8 studies with 5,502 participants, people who put in more effort were judged to be morally better and more deserving of rewards, even when the extra effort didn't improve the output, the quality or the economic value. [R2] The rule of thumb "looks hard → must be persistent → trustworthy → a good person" turns into "amount of struggle = points for your character." Say A makes 100 items in 8 hours, and B automates the job and makes 100 in 4 hours. B is more efficient, yet "A worked 8 hours" becomes a moral bonus.
3. The Effort-Norm Ratchet: Easy to Raise, Hard to Lower
In 2026, a set of 12 studies with 1,957 participants found that when the people around them chose high effort, participants raised their own effort too. But when the people around them took the easy route, participants' effort didn't drop in a mirror-image way, and in some cases it even went up. [R3] Even when low effort was presented in a positive light, as "efficient and smart," actual effort didn't simply fall. An effort culture can be upgraded, but it's weak at rolling back.
4. "Resting Is a Waste": Leisure Guilt
In 4 studies with 1,310 participants, the more people saw leisure as a waste of time, the less they enjoyed it and the lower their well-being was. When participants were experimentally nudged to think "leisure is unproductive," their enjoyment dropped too. [R4] A 2026 study on leisure guilt also found that guilt about resting predicted worse leisure experiences and lower well-being. [R5] Once the value ranking shifts from "I like my job" to "everything other than work ranks lower," the demon-ification speeds up.
Part 2: Traps and Rats Evolve Together
5. ASA: The Company Shapes You, but You Also Walk Into a Trap That Fits You
In the Attraction–Selection–Attrition (ASA) model, people are drawn to organizations that suit them, organizations choose people who fit, and people who don't fit tend to leave. [R6][R7] A long-term study on the "corresponsive principle" shows that personality influences which environments people choose, and those environments can then strengthen the original personality. [R8] It's a loop: "I want to be recognized for effort → a company that praises effort → I work even harder → I'm given even more → the hard-working me is reinforced." A trap doesn't just catch the rat. The rat walks toward the trap that has its favorite cheese.
6. Perfectionism × Heavy Workload
In a long-term study of 430 people, it wasn't self-oriented perfectionism (setting very high standards for yourself) by itself that predicted a later rise in workaholism, but its combination with a high workload. [R9] It's not that "perfectionism = instant demon." The dangerous chemical reaction is "perfectionism × heavy workload × a culture that praises effort."
7. Ventures and Startups as Culture Dishes
This doesn't mean every startup is a sweatshop. But self-selection, passion, a strong sense of identity, speed and heavy workloads can easily end up in the same place. In research on startup accelerators (programs that coach early-stage companies), people with similar passions connected with each other, and the passion itself spread through the network. [R10] Among 10,908 employees at emerging companies, rapid scaling was linked to more burnout and lower job satisfaction. [R11] A 2026 study of 240 entrepreneurs also showed a path from hustle to stress to burnout. [R12] There is research, too, showing that role overload (too many demands at once) can lead to intense absorption and obsessive passion. [R13]
"Overwhelming growth," "autonomy" and "big responsibility while you're still young" can all be used by healthy companies. At the same time, for someone who wants to hit the gas, they're also the finest cheese.
8. Passion Exploitation: Passion Can Become a Reason to Pay Less
Some people are willing to give up part of their pay for meaningful work. Research on meaningful work found that the minimum salary people would accept for a meaningful job was lower. [R14] If a person chooses that freely, it's their call. But once an organization takes advantage of it, things change.
Across 7 studies plus a meta-analysis, the more someone was seen as "passionate about their work," the easier it was to justify mistreating them, such as asking for unpaid extra work or unpleasant tasks outside their job description. "They want to do it anyway" and "the work is its own reward" were the mediating beliefs. [R15] In 5 studies with 1,849 participants in 2026, obsessive passion (a compulsive, can't-let-go kind of passion) was read as a signal of dedication and drive, and those people were more likely to be picked for ethically questionable roles. [R16]
If total compensation is pay plus meaning plus recognition plus growth plus "the me who can push hard," then there's a temptation to single out people who respond strongly to non-monetary rewards. But burn through your people and the bill arrives later: burnout, turnover, accidents, and the cost of rehiring and retraining.
Part 3: The Antidote
9. Spread Your Sense of Self-Worth Around
Self-complexity research suggests that the more you see yourself through several fairly independent facets, the less stress in one area spills over onto your whole self. [R17] Self-affirmation research also suggests that affirming another important value, one unrelated to the area under threat, can weaken defensive reactions. [R18] A spread-out portfolio of "work / lifting / friends / learning / hobbies / rest" is less likely to be wiped out when one piece breaks than being "100% company employee."
10. Don't Let the Demon Move Into Your Strength Training
Strength training can be a good outlet for the urge to take on challenges. But if it turns into "I can push myself to the limit, so I'm somebody," "rest days are slacking" and "lifting less weight means I'm less of a person," then the work demon has simply taken a job at the gym. A 2025 meta-analysis of 7 studies with 3,117 participants found a moderate positive link between perfectionism and compulsive exercise (overall perfectionism r=.37, where r is a correlation score from 0 to 1). Most of the studies were cross-sectional, though, so the cause is unclear. [R19] A healthy checkpoint is "can I allow myself a rest day?"
11. CBT/ACT: What You're Driving Out Is Not Effort but a Curse
What CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) can target are rigid rules like "I'm worthless unless I work hard," "80% is a failure," "resting is laziness" and "taking the easy way means I'm incompetent." A meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of CBT for perfectionism, with 912 participants, reported moderate to large improvements. [R20] In a 2025 RCT, both self-help CBT and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) reduced perfectionism. [R21]
The behavioral experiments can be simple. "If I leave on time, my reputation is finished" → leave on time and watch what happens. "If I hand in 80%, the world ends" → hand it in and watch. "If I use the dishwasher, I'll turn into a slacker" → use it. The plates are clean. Civilization survives. With ACT, you separate thought from action: "There's the thought telling me to work more. Got it. I'm going home anyway." In a controlled trial of 73 adults with workaholism, a mindfulness-based intervention improved symptoms, satisfaction, working hours and psychological distress, and cutting working hours did not lower job performance. [R22]
Conclusion: Keep the Breath of Effort. Drive Out Only the Demon.
The ability to work hard is a strong one. The danger is when effort as a means turns into amount of effort = ability = morality = human worth. Put in the effort that's needed. Automate the effort that isn't. Rest when it's time to rest. Have more than one source of worth. Keep the books on results and on struggle separate.
If a dishwasher does the job, let it. In strength training, split the days into push days and recovery days. If your work is fascinating, go all in. Going home on a day you can go home doesn't cost you any points as a person.
What needs burning is not effort. It's the demon art that says "the more you suffered, the better a person you are."
