I always see these features as an interesting way to add more gameplay and I'm all for that. Like lifestyles and neighbourhood stories and new aspirations which I'm always excited to see. But then in practice, I invariably find that they bring with them a ton of negative moodlets that end up actually hampering gameplay.
You want a challenged and busy Sim with an interest that drives them, but instead you get a woeful Sim dragging their feet and orange and blue lines at the bottom left corner, uh oh.
So I'd like to see lifestyles spur them on and focus them rather than be an unhealthy obsession I guess!
Playing on console and cheat free as I am, I'm kind of stuck without being able to mitigate the negative effects. I try all kinds of rewards, potions, remedies, emotion berries to keep them motivated and cheerful but I can't help thinking my goodness I'm virtually medicating pixels, oh and now I'm yelling at pixels, and now I've thrown my controller down in a huff!