Are You a Workaholic?
If you work long hours, take work home with you, and think constantly about work, does that make you a workaholic? Not necessarily. It’s easy to confuse working hard with being a workaholic, but workaholism means that you value work over any other activity, even when it negatively affects your health, your family, and the quality of your work.
At the core of workaholism is preoccupation. As described by a psychotherapist, the difference between a workaholic and a hard worker is that the workaholic is on the ski slopes dreaming about being back at work, and the hard worker is in the office dreaming about being on the ski slope! This is the distinction, perhaps, between living to work and working to live.
In general, a workaholic is a person who is addicted to work, and that’s the case whether the person truly enjoys the work or merely feels compelled to do it. Workaholics tend to be intense, competitive, and driven. They work anytime and anywhere. They blur the line between business and pleasure but prefer work to leisure.
Workaholics, alas, are not just problems for themselves. They tend to be very controlling. They’re not great team players, and in fact they don’t like to (or can’t) delegate. They tend to be perfectionists; accordingly, they’d rather handle everything themselves than rely on others or benefit from their efforts.
On the one hand, workaholics come in early, stay late, don't (and often refuse to) take vacations, and take on mountains of work. On the other hand, they may have more work than they can handle effectively and are often poorly organized, and these issues combined with their inability to delegate and work well in teams makes them much less than dream employees.
If you’re a workaholic who wants to break away from this syndrome—or you’re determined not to fall into it in the first place—set clear boundaries regarding work hours, get enough sleep, and find activities you enjoy aside from work. If you start to feel overloaded, step back and take time to consider what’s realistic for you.
The matter of boundaries can be critical if your manager is a workaholic. Your manager may be inclined to work you as much as you allow, so it’s critical that you set the limits. To the extent you’re able—without risking your job—clearly state what work hours you consider acceptable (or unacceptable, such as evenings or weekends).
Which is worse—being a workaholic or working for one? What’s been your experience?
