The other day, we talked about the idea of Workaholism, and offered up a simple way to help you ponder the question of whether you just work a lot, or if in fact maybe you have a problem that expresses itself as working a lot. It’s not easy for some to make this assessment for a number of reasons, but two of them parallel classic addiction problems. One reason is that if you work in a high-pressure environment like finance or certain tech industry jobs, you’re likely to be surrounded by a bunch of people with the same problem. It’s much like the problem drinker that spends all their time around OTHER problem drinkers. In the same way that an alcoholic might boast to another about how many drinks they can down and still be “maintaining”, it’s not uncommon for someone to boast about how many hours they worked this week.
Another reason is that many workaholics put in long hours alone at the office or bring their work home. While this may make them FEEL productive, it’s exactly the solitary nature of their time that makes it almost impossible to apply real metrics to determine whether the extra hours actually generated more or better results! Chances are they didn’t; these are all just tricks that ANY addict relies on to perpetuate their subtle misery.
So what to do? If you’re in a field that REQUIRES this kind of obsessive imbalance – like politics, for instance – I don’t know what to tell you. But in most occupations, the answer lies – as corny as it may seem – in simply sharing the problem. Ask your partner, family, co-workers, bosses, employees, or your health care professionals. Do you work too much? Does your constant obsession with work detract from anyone’s happiness? Are you in fact performing WORSE because of your devotion or perfectionism? As this Seattle Times piece points out, workaholics “expect too much from others, interfere with their duties and worry themselves to distraction…” and “…have trouble delegating. They look over people’s shoulders. They suffer burnout”. So there are some simple strategies for approaching the problem. Here are some of the most obvious, and easy to implement:
Leave Work At Work
Literally. Set a time to end the day, and don’t physically drag work home with you. Take lunches without your mobile phone or laptop. There’s a common example of a workaholic that goes something like “A hard worker will be at his desk, thinking about the ski slopes. A workaholic will be on the ski slopes thinking about his desk.” Just try BEING WHERE YOU ARE once in awhile.
Schedule Leisure
It’s amazing how easy it is to forget to simply block out time to do something you enjoy. Try it. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll like you for being so considerate of you.
Do a Tech Detox
Try setting aside a whole day or more where you won’t sit at your computer, or message on your mobile device. If you find this inconceivable, start with baby steps like not wearing your watch, or not taking your cellphone while you go for a walk.
Ask for Help
You might be surprised at how many people around you keep their lips zipped about how bad your problem is. Associates may gladly offer to pick up slack, and your loved ones will probably be delighted to have the person they love back for a while.
Mostly, try just living. It’s not that hard. Work to live, don’t live to work.
