PhronesisCompulsive volunteering—the habitual, reflexive affirmation of requests for time and energy regardless of actual available capacity—constitutes a stable wrong attractor in the space of commitment behaviors. We formalize this phenomenon within the displacement dynamics framework, identifying the ground state S^0 as calibrated generous commitment: the ability to contribute genuinely from genuine capacity, to decline without guilt, and to fulfill accepted obligations fully and well.
The wrong attractor W is characterized by a yes-first architecture driven by guilt-of-refusal, social-approval seeking, and the progressive atrophy of the capacity to assess and protect one's own reserves. We introduce the displacement cost function D() measuring distance from calibrated generous commitment, and define = D()\,dt as the accumulated displacement representing the chronic over-commitment pattern.
We analyze the basin depth as a function of guilt-sensitivity and approval-dependence, trace the quality-degradation dynamics that arise when too many commitments compete for finite time and energy, and characterize the burnout trajectory as a catastrophic basin escape. Nine formal propositions—P1 through P9—establish the key structural features of the wrong attractor, the conditions for basin deepening, and the return path through capacity-first assessment and deliberate pre-commitment pause.
We conclude with implications for the individual's recovery of generous agency.