Ok, so this is my first attempt at explaining why we do too many things. I'm sure my ideas will develop and evolve as I continually gather information - but believe me, this is an issue that's close to my heart and I want to get it right.
So we as humans adapt to things. That's what we do. We experience, learn, and incorporate what we've learned and then experience-learn-incorporate some more. Each phase of adaptation results in the establishment of a new baseline from which we continue to adapt when presented with new stimuli (incidentally, this is roughly how
Bayesian inference, which is a statistical/probabilistic machine learning process, works).
What does that mean for us overextended overachievers? Each time we take on a new activity or job, initially we're so jazzed by the new experience and so motivated by learning (which is our favorite. Seriously, your brain and by extension, you, love to learn and can't get enough of that tasty tasty dopamine release that comes with it) that we can forget everything else - sleep, food, sex, pooping, what have you. Once we've adapted to that new activity and it's become a part of our lives and our new baseline for functionality, it continues to be rewarding because there's still the possibility of learning more minute and high-level aspects of the activity, and we remember that gigantic dopaminergic response we got from first experience and initial learning. So we've learned that new activities are rewarding, which leads us to seek them out once we reach the easy-functioning adapted phase in the previous.
So, roughly, my answer to why we take on so damn much: your brain. Your stupid, amazing, awful, vital brain.
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