Signs of workaholism

I will not go too deep into describing the day to day of a workaholic, but here are just a few signs. 

🔻 Waking up in the morning and already feeling the anxiety level rise as you hurry to work just because you know how much there is to do. 

🔻 Eating lunch at your desk behind your computer, as taking 30 minutes off to change the surroundings and close your inbox for a moment would make a huge dent in your schedule for the day. 

🔻 Getting agitated by every meeting invite you receive, as it just keeps punching holes in your workday. 

🔻 Not realizing that you have spent 10+ hours at the office. Occasionally trying to pretend not to work as much, by finishing even a bit before 5, but secretly rushing home to sit down at your computer for the next 4 hours. 

Fight it

Please acknowledge that it should not be like this. These feelings, thoughts, and behaviors are not normality to accept. Yes, having a passion for your work is always a good sign. Being absorbed by that passion and at one point finding that there is no joy left in your work is not an acceptable place to be at. 

The list of signs could go on and on. Even when you are not showing many of the signs, but you can see the first hints of work getting out of control and it affecting other aspects of your life, then it is a good moment to take notice and action. Let’s not dwell too much on the negative part of this and skip to my 3 quick solutions for making the balance between work and life:

• Know your limits. It is easy to get caught up in the overflowing work if you try to be a robot and just get everything done. For example, in my job, there is no way you can ever get everything done. There is always something to do. I am sure that applies to many of my reader's reality. I have found very helpful to have an estimation about how much time my usual tasks take.  For example, I know the average number of emails I receive during the weekend and therefore I know the average number of hours it might take to reply to those. I know how much preparation time I usually need for a regular meetings. I know how much time it takes to prepare visa documents, to have everything set for a residence permit appointments etc. Once you have the initial estimation it is so much easier to look at your inbox, calendar or new work requests and see that to finish everything you would need X number of hours. If I would not be as mindful of always wanting to have an overview, I would keep on running around from putting out one fire after another. At least with this approach, I know how many fires I have and most of my time I can concentrate on preventing fires from happening. 

• Have focus time. I have learned to take things day by day, meaning that on the previous day(s)/week(s) I look over the things that I do know that I have to do, and I use my rough estimation of how much time it will take me, and mark down focus time in my calendar. Focus time can either be dedicated to a particular task or for example on Mondays I have 1,5-hour focus time on going through my inbox and answering all the talent emails that I have received over the weekend. By having designated time in your calendar for focusing on the projects and tasks that you already know, (1) it helps to seal off time from your calendar, so you will not end up spending most of your time in meetings when you actually should be delivering results on your projects. (2) It helps you to estimate the ratio of urgent tasks vs free time. (3) Having a designated longer period of time for particular work helps me to be more productive, as otherwise I would be just jumping from one thing to another giving several things some part of my attention without actually delivering anything. Jumping from task to task is not good for your productivity, as every switch requires time to adjust and you keep on losing valuable time.

• Share responsibilities. With having an estimation of how much time your current tasks and projects are taking from you, it gives you the ability to compare it with the free time that you have. If you clearly see that your tasks require 6 hours, but you only have a 2-hours window on your workday, it is a first helpful sign for further action.  For the longest part of my work life, I have had a big issue with asking for help or admitting when things are too much for me. In a silly way, I have previously viewed that as a sign of weakness. My team lead helped me tremendously to overcome the false shame and to encourage me to see that not as a weakness but as strength. As I know that me sharing my responsibilities comes from me being on top of estimating how much time I need to execute and having an overview of how much time I in reality have. I do not ask for help for the sake of getting more free time for myself without any apparent reason. I ask for help with my responsibilities as I am good with my time management and I am honest with myself about my capabilities.

Tips

for leaders! Do not describe your people as overachievers. Do not give out recognition for people who work the longest hours. By doing that you are encouraging an unhealthy lifestyle. Value your people for their knowledge, their skill, their productivity that is obtained during normal working hours, their smart ways to work efficiently. That would be your contribution to a healthier lifestyle and a good inspiration for people to create more of their work and personal life balance. 

for doers! The magic is hidden in focusing less on what is urgent and more on what is important. Otherwise, you will be running from putting down one fire after another. 

My personal experience

My first steps on this journey started when I stopped confusing my career with my life. Career aspirations are great and there is no one out there who can come to me and tell that focusing on a career is wrong or I should not do it. But I found so much more joy in working on my career-related aspirations once I started to put emphasis on having also a life outside of work. Having the ability to think work-related thoughts and execute my job at a high level during my workhours is a two-way street with having opportunities to load my batteries during off time by keeping off time strictly as a time where I do not check emails or think about my projects. 

I still stumble into moments where I get overwhelmed with work. Occasionally working on weekends or doing 10 hours workdays is something that I allow myself to do. But as I know that I do struggle with having control over a healthy balance, I still have to find new ways to create balance. What small day to day things have you found working well for you on your quest for work and personal life balance?