492 - Workaholics Aren’t Actually More Productive
What is workaholism?
A lot of us struggle with being workaholics. The term workaholism was first used in 1971 by psychologist Wayne Oates. He defined it as “a compulsion or an uncontrollable need to work incessantly.”
A workaholic is a person who works compulsively. A workaholic experiences an inability to limit the amount of time they spend on work despite negative consequences such as damage to their relationships or health.
Wikipedia
Some forms of stress, impulse control disorder, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be work-related, but there isn’t a specific medical diagnosis of workaholism. Additionally, the phenomenon of hustle culture may contribute to or exacerbate workaholism.
Some of the negative effects of workaholism can be:
Anxiety.
Low self-esteem.
Intimacy issues.
Depression.
Chronic fatigue.
Lowered overall immunity.
Why do we do it?
It’s safe to say workaholism is dangerous, both to our health and our relationships. So why do we do it to ourselves?
It can be hard to break out of habits, especially when:
Working hard is seen as a positive trait, especially in the US.
Hard work and a lack of having a good work/life balance tend to be rewarded.
Workaholism is also tied to things like perfectionism, so the two traits may go hand in hand.
Workaholics often are seeking outside, external approval that is hard to ever achieve.
There are common tropes of one partner working all the time and ignoring the needs of the other partner in our media.
Additionally, family of origin and childhood experiences can contribute to the possibility of workaholism:
Workaholics often see this trait first in one or both of their parents, and grow up thinking that this is the only way to work effectively.
Workaholics may have also had stressful childhoods, or needed to grow up faster than their peers.
Workaholics may have had parents who withheld love or gave it based on academic or extracurricular performance.
Workaholism may happen due to past traumatic experiences.
Some of us also use workaholism as a coping mechanism to shield us from something we don’t want to face:
We may have a situation at home that we don’t want to deal with, and therefore choose to spend substantial amounts of time out of the house and in the office.
We may use work as a means of escape or a way to relieve ourselves of needing to be intimate with our loved ones.
Work may help distract us from other areas of life that aren’t going well.
Workaholism may give us a sense of meaning and purpose that we fail to find internally and from other important avenues in life.
It’s worth noting that there is a difference between workaholism and working long hours. Workaholism often is paired with a sense of guilt that you’re not doing more or enough. Additionally, researchers have found no positive correlation between workaholic behavior and productivity.
What to do about it
Before tackling a problem, you have to determine you have a problem. If you’re concerned you might be a workaholic, start by asking yourself these questions:
Do you constantly work longer hours than are expected or required?
Do you cram work obligations into every moment of your schedule?
Are you accessible nearly 24/7, dealing with endless emails and messages?
Do you tend to ignore health issues, “pushing through” them to meet work deadlines?
Are you using work to avoid unpleasant relationship issues?
Do you sacrifice spending time on activities you (used to) enjoy and work instead?
If you answered yes, try these suggestions:
Create a specific work schedule and stick to it as much as you can. This also means setting down work when working hours aren’t happening, as well as choosing to not answer texts or phone calls from colleagues when you aren’t on the job.
Try to set down perfectionism by working with your colleagues, delegating tasks to other people, allowing a project to be good enough as opposed to “perfect,” and picking and choosing what actually is the most important part of a project as opposed to making everything perfect.
Make a to-do list that contains only 5 things for work each day.
Take breaks. If you have to schedule breaks in your calendar, do it! Also, plan a vacation if you haven’t had one in a while!
Get better at setting boundaries. Talk to your boss about this and listen to MA 423: Boundaries are all about YourSELF to help you learn to set better boundaries.
Create new hobbies or return to ones that mattered to you in the past. Additionally, re-invest in friendships or other relationships that may have been left by the wayside because of your job.
If you realize that you are constantly working to escape parts of a romantic relationship, evaluate the reasoning behind that impulse and take steps to change or exit the relationship.