Palm Trees

The Life of a Workaholic

In a work environment where most folks want to demonstrate their value to the company in order to hold their job, is it appropriate to worry about whether or not you are a workaholic? Researchers, clinicians and groups like Workaholics Anonymous say the costs of not recognizing and addressing the problem of workaholism are too serious for it to be ignored.

Giving your best to your job and loving what you do are important components to a balanced and successful life but there are classic signs which could indicate that honest hard work has morphed into a destructive obsession. If you find that you are working longer hours which cause you to miss family/social time on a regular basis, beyond what might be needed to earn a bonus or promotion, it could be a signal that your work investment is disproportionate. Also, if you do manage to tear yourself physically away from the desk only to find that you are mentally continuing to solve work-related issues until you can be physically present again in the office, it could indicate that you have an unhealthy work attachment. Today's technology makes it easier than ever to bring work home, to events or even on vacation. Such eclipsing preoccupation with work could spell workaholic.

The problem is not limited to white collar professionals, as workaholics come in all shapes and sizes. Nurses and laborers sit beside executives at WA support meetings. Something all they share is a struggle with perfectionism. While one sign of workaholism is constant preoccupation with work, another sign that there could be a problem is an inability to hand over meaningful tasks to anyone else. A need to be hands on with every part of the job and never being able to delegate any valuable portion to others reveals a controlling perfectionism that typifies workaholics. A workaholic sees everything as having great significance and therefore must be involved at every level because no one else can be trusted to offer the same quality of effort or outcome.

Obviously, being constantly preoccupied and setting impossibly high standards negatively affects the workaholic's personal relationships. Consequently, shattered friendships and loosened or lost family ties are common in the workaholic life. Recent research conducted at the University of North Carolina states that workaholic marriages are twice as likely to end in divorce as marriages where neither partner is a workaholic. Children of workaholics also suffer from the impossible to please attitude and were found to experience higher rates of depression and anxiety as a result.

As with other addictions, admitting to a problem is a necessary initial step. If you spend disproportionate amounts of time and thought on your work, have problems with personal relationships due to inattention or perfectionism, and find all of your personal identity and satisfaction attached to your job – then you may be a workaholic. Admitting the problem and then making concrete changes such as setting limits on work, sharing task responsibilities and intentionally giving time to important relationships will help you sign out on the time card and sign up for a healthier more well-balanced life.