A workaholic by definition, is someone who is "addicted to work", pretty much like an alcoholic is addicted to the bottle. It's a mental state in which the individual feels he or she must be doing something work related, regardless of the surrounding circumstances or people that are in his or her environment. Now, here I want to state something that is very key, which is people who like their work, but are able to differenciate themselves from workaholics. You see, there is a difference between loving what you do for living, and living your life for what you do. The latter is a typical behavior of a workaholic.
In order to figure out whether if you're a workaholic or not, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you find yourself working over the weekend... every weekend?
It's ok to put in some extra hours just for the sake of it the eventual weekend of the month, just to impress your boss and/or colleagues. Now, if you are doing this every Saturday and Sunday, we then have a situation here. Either you are running short on your week day hours or your workload is not being properly managed.
To solve this you have to do two things: first, ask yourself what does your day work look like. If you are putting 9 hours, then you should be fine with the amount of tasks you have to do. Next, find out what tasks are you doing on the weekend. Checking email? Reviewing briefs? Preparing budgets? Something that is key to understand is that things won't happen sooner if you make them happen sooner and there's no one around to collaborate with your effort.
- Do you pass on family and/or social invitations because you have to work?
Life has to have a certain balance and ventilating through other activities helps you clean your mind from the day to day work responsibilities. What good is it to live in an apartment with swimming pool if you use it twice a year (on Christmas and on independence day, and only because everything else is closed).
The more you begin to get into non-work related activities, interact with your social circle, family and friends, the more you will appreciate the value of your spare time, the value of doing something different other than work, and of course the value of your own life.
- Do you find yourself finishing your work and immediately going to bed and waking up and going straight to work?
Sleeping is one of the greatest pleasures in life, so why deprive yourself from it? Research has determined that over a third of the Earth's population does not have a healthy sleep routine, for a variety of reasons -one of them being stress from work-. The human brain works exactly like any engine you know: after running at cruise control for most part of the day, you have to cool it down before switching it off. Just like in the mornings you have to warm it up before going at full speed.
The healthier your sleep is, the more efficient you will become in your work, which will likely lead to better management of hours and increased productivity during those hours. Also, make a note of how many times have you fallen asleep with nothing in your mind, and compare those times to the occasions you fell into bed thinking about tomorrow's meeting.
- Do you keep in touch with your co-workers after work hours?
It's ok to have co-workers friends, but chances are that if you hang out with your co-workers, you will inevitably find yourself talking about work! Whether if it's criticizing the last meeting, or making fun of your boss, or discussing plans of the week ahead, you are still encouraging your brain to think about work. Again, there is nothing wrong with doing this, but you have to separate your spaces. You must draw the line.
Instead, why don't you hang out with your friends or family, and if you feel too stressed, you can ventilate some of the issues of the last meeting at work, make fun of your boss and talk about the upcoming week. What will happen is that you will feel that same relief sensation you would have felt if talking to your co-workers, but now you will know when to put an end to your work thoughts and transition into social every day thoughts. Having a nice night out with someone and talk about many things is very relaxing.
Next time someone from work calls or emails you after work hours or the weekend, just be polite and say "hey, I'm currently with my family (or friends), I'll talk to you on Monday at the office"
Stay tuned for my Part II of this entry: "Are you a workaholic?"
