How to Avoid becoming a Workaholic
Surely, it can’t be too difficult to avoid becoming a workaholic. After all, who wants to spend any more time at work than they have to? Well, it would appear that there are plenty of individuals whose primary concern is getting to the top of their profession and so are prepared to do all they can to make sure they succeed.
If you’re at the lower end of the pay scale and have some kind of menial job you probably work long hours because you have to in order to make enough money to survive, rather than because you’re a workaholic. However, workaholics tend to work in a professional environment where competition is inevitable. There is a great deal of pressure on you to succeed when everyone else around you appears to be on the fast track to success. You don’t want to be left behind and so find yourself staying behind after work to put some extra hours in. If you want to reach the top of the career ladder you have to put the effort in, but is this kind of success really worth neglecting your friends and family for?
Indeed, you need to decide what your priorities are. If you don’t mind not being able to spend as much time with friends and family then you can work as much as you want, although your relatives may protest. Ideally, though, you should learn to strike the right balance between your work life and your home life. It is clear that if you work long hours you can get quite a lot of work done, but if your mind is elsewhere you may not be as productive as when you are in the right frame of mind.
It is evident that spending all your time at work means not only do you neglect your relationships with other people, but you also neglect yourself. If you work in a stressful job it’s particularly important to ensure you get enough sleep and take regular exercise, which you’re unlikely to do if you work more than 12 hours a day. You also need to eat regularly and ensure that you get the right balance of nutrients, which won’t be the case if you simply grab food on the go.
It is therefore worth remembering that although you have to put a great deal of effort into your career if you want to succeed, you won’t be able to if you’re constantly ill and depressed because you have no life outside of work. Consequently, you have to make time for other things.
