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Workaholic? Are you a Workaholic and want to Change

Are you the type of person who his always working? Do you feel lost when you are not working or possibly, you don’t know how to relax when you are not working? You are a workaholic. You are overly dedicated to your work and your business. 

What are the signs of being a workaholic?

Are the relationships that you make in life strictly related to business or business related ventures? If your personal life is suffering and you have a feeling that something is missing in your life, you need to step back and make more friends that are not business related. 

All of your activities are business related. Do you ever do anything that is not business related? For example, perhaps the only reason you stopped at the local bar was to meet an associate to discuss a contract. Or, you were meeting a new client for lunch but you never dine out any other time. 

You are working too much and need to change the patterns of your life. If you were to have a devastating problem in life or if you were to lose your job, you would be lost without other friends, family and acquaintances to support you emotionally. 

Are you strongly analytic? If you are always focused on a new goal, that you are going to make that big sale, and that nothing else gets in your way about hitting that goal, you are a workaholic. When is the last time you spent time with your family? Did you miss a baseball game this year? Did you see graduation? 

Were you there when they went on their first date? Scale back on your goals or give yourself additional time to meet your goals so you can enjoy more of your family at the same time. If sales and business goals are always on your mind you need to learn to be able to clear your mind so your physical health doesn’t suffer. 

What are the problems associated with being a workaholic?

When you work too much, your family does not get to see you as much. What is the remedy? Set hours that you are going to work and try as hard as you can to stick to them. If you always have to work late, limit it to six or seven o’clock and then quit at that time no matter what. Your family is important especially if you have young children or if you are newly wed. 

When you work too much, your home life changes and your family learns to ‘get along without you’ and you miss out on a lot of things. If you have to work six or seven days a week, take a day off in the middle of the week and just be around the house with your spouse and family as much as possible. While you may not be able to do this every week, at least once a month when you are under the tightest deadlines is important to boost your family life. 

If you are a workaholic often you are under stress, constantly and it can be damaging to your health. How can you remedy this? Take a lunch. No matter how busy you are, taking a lunch is going to give your body that few minutes to calm down. If you don’t want to eat lunch, go to the gym, go for a walk – physical exercise of any amount or any type is good for releasing stress. 

Workaholics often suffer from mental stress. Learn to leave the work on your desk at night. Don’t take it home with you. The constant strain on your brain and the constant working even if you are at home can leave you feeling mentally drained. Refresh yourself by taking the night off when you are at home. Catch up at work, when you are at work. Leave work at work. Read when you go home, watch television, or just sit on the porch and listen to the neighborhood to clear your mind and refresh your brain. 

How can you change your compulsive working behavior? 
Learn to drive slower. Do not be in such a hurry. Work is still going to be there when you get there. Start out your day a little early and enjoy the ride. Always being in a hurry leads to stress, physically and mentally. 

Learn to talk a walk, before, during, or after work. Walking is something that just about anyone can do any time for a little stress relief. Again, adding any type of physical outlet to your daily or weekly activities is going to keep you healthy physically and alert mentally. 

Stop trying to do too much at one time. Slow down, take a breath, and learn to take on one project at a time or one goal at a time. Reduce the pressure in your life by taking on fewer projects and long term high stress situations at one time. 

Relax and listen to music, read a book or watch a movie. When you are able to leave work at work and focus on ‘nothing’ but relaxing for an hour a day your body and your mind are both going to be refreshed.