When does somebody cross the line from being a hard worker to work-obsessed?Here Identity the traits of a workaholic & help yourself out .

Work addiction, often called workaholism, is a real mental health condition. Like any other addiction, work addiction is the inability to stop the behavior.

It often stems from a compulsive need to achieve status and success, or to escape emotional stress.

Work addiction is often driven by job success. And it’s common in people described as perfectionists.

Much like someone with a drug addiction, a person with a work addiction achieves a “high” from working. This leads them to keep repeating the behavior that gives them this high. People with a work addiction may be unable to stop the behavior despite the negative ways it may affect their personal life or physical or mental health.

Symptoms

In a culture where hard work is praised and putting in overtime is often expected, it can be difficult to recognize work addiction.

People with a work addiction will often justify their behavior by explaining why it is a good thing and can help them achieve success. They may simply appear committed to their job or the success of their projects. However, ambition and addiction are quite different.

A person with a work addiction may engage in compulsive work to avoid other aspects of their life, like troubling emotional issues or personal crises. And similar to other addictions, the person may engage in the behavior unaware of the negative effects that the addiction is causing.

Symptoms of a work addiction include:

• putting in long hours at the office, even when not needed
• losing sleep to engage in work projects or finish tasks
• being obsessed with work-related success
• having intense fear of failure at work
• being paranoid about work-related performance
• disintegrating personal relationships because of work
• having a defensive attitude toward others about their work
• using work as a way to avoid relationships
• working to cope with feelings of guilt or depression
• working to avoid dealing with crises like death, divorce, or financial trouble

Diagnosis

The Bergen Work Addiction Scale is used to identify work addiction. It was developed by the University of Bergen and is accepted in the medical community. The scale measures several factors including how often certain aspects apply to your life. These items are measured on a scale of:

• never (1)
• rarely (2)
• sometimes (3)
• often (4)
• always (5)

Items you may be asked to rate include:

• You think of how you can free up more time to work.
• You work in order to reduce guilt, helplessness, depression, and anxiety.
• You’ve been told to reduce your time working but ignore those requests.
• You spend much more time working than you initially intend.
• You become stressed when you are not able to work.
• You lower the importance of hobbies, fun activities, and fitness in exchange for more work time.
• You work so much that it has negatively impacted your health.

Research related to the scale published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology indicates that if you can answer “often” or “always” to at least four of these items, you may have a work addiction.

Treatment options

• Turning it Off

One way to regain control of work is to set clear start and stop times for every day. This can help someone to accept when work has ended for the day. Have trouble relaxing enough to focus on something else, even during your off hours?

At the very least, try to stick to a schedule that allows for a no-work policy of between two hours and three hours before bedtime.

• Maintain a Sense of Balance

Leaders today need to understand and accept that while important, work is but a single part of what makes everyone human.

“What’s key to keep in mind is that work is just a part of life,” 

“Sometimes it’s best – for everyone – to know when to shut it down and go on home.” This includes taking the time to nourish and foster relationships with family and friends to maintain a sense of work-life balance. This will go a long way to relaxing and recharging internal batteries.

• Avoid Extreme Goal-Setting

If a leader feels as though he or she is supposed to be an expert in all fields, it makes sense targets and expectations would be sky high.

While objectives should be ambitious, leaders today would be better served to include a sense of realism. If leaders set unfair goals form themselves that are not reached, a harmful paradigm may be created when a sense of failure persists.

Whether you are a full-blown workaholic or are moving along the slippery slope toward this very real health issue, it is advisable to seek help – perhaps with a leadership coach or other type of expert

Workaholism can have deleterious psychological and physical results for today’s leadership, including insomnia, anxiety and heart disease.

See You Tomorrow with Way #66

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ABOUT MARWA ABD EL AZIZ

Marwa is a pioneer and expert in developing projects to build revenue, profits and corporate visibility with extensive experience in all facets of projects starting with site identification, developing and overseeing the implementation of the feasibility plans for projects; actively participating in the various financial analysis, acquisition, master planning, design review and tendering.

She is in the UAE Property Development industry Since 2001 during which she has coordinated all administrative activities pertaining to construction projects with an overall budget exceeding 5 billion.

Marwa holds an Architectural Engineering degree, PMP and Master in Project Management from the American Academy U.S.A.

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