Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Workaholic - It's not a laughing matter anymore...

If you're like me you've heard this issue joked about in basically every company where you have ever worked. It's workaholic. Most of us would never admit to being one and we probably wouldn't even own up to being described this way.

What's your take on this issue and trend?

This is my first post of more to come in a series addressing the topic and subject of work/life balance. We all know how important it is to balance work and life...but why is it?

Here is how Wikipedia defines a workaholic - a workaholic is a person who is addicted to work. This phrase does not always imply that the person actually enjoys their work, but rather simply feels compelled to do it. There is no generally accepted medical definition of such a condition, although some forms of stress, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be work-related. Although the term "workaholic" usually has a negative connotation, it is sometimes used by people wishing to express their devotion to one's career in positive terms. The "work" in question is usually associated with a paying job, but it may also refer to independent pursuits such as sports, music, art, or blogging.

Next, I decided to go to the place where I could knew I could find this issue addressed, defined and solved, Workaholics Anonymous.

Here is how they define what it's all about - Workaholics Anonymous is a fellowship of individuals who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other that they may solve their common problems and help others to recover from workaholism.

Since I was quite unfamiliar with this program and issue I was surprised to see all the great resources that were included there.

Here are a few of the resources I found...
- How do I know if I am a workaholic?
- Characteristics of a workaholic
- The Twelve Steps
- FAQ's

Take a look at the above links and dig through the information provided. There are some great tools included that can really help you determine whether or not you might be a workaholic.

If you determine that you really might be one, how's your performance in your current position and what type of feedback do you receive from your manager? Do your current habits really help your performance or are you just guilty of bad time management or doing work just to stay busy?

How about your career? Are you where you thought you would be and is your current position contributing or hindering your progress?

If you really aren't sure then explore the links above and be on the lookout for more information to come from me on this very topic.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I just saw this blog posting and I thought it was interesting. I am not a workaholic but I have worked with someone who could very well be described as a workaholic. This person displayed basically all of the symptoms. It was a frustrating experience having to work with this person on a daily basis because not only did he want perfection in his own work but he would complain if other people did not do their work up to his standards. He was obsessed with minor details and did his work very slowly. He lacked time management skills. He would hurry around the workplace as though he was the only one doing any work. He was also quite rude and abrupt whenever someone interrupted him while he was working. He was also paranoid. He felt like other people were putting the pressure on him to do everything, when in reality, he was the one creating the stress on himself. There were times when he would complain that he never got to take a lunch break because there was so much work to do. He definately has obsessive compulsive personality disorder. By the end of my working experience with this individual, I had become very annoyed by this person.