What makes someone a workaholic? If this is you, stop multitasking and read this warning.
Workaholism is being defined more specifically these days, and it’s not just the hard worker who puts in long hours. According to Malissa Clark, an industrial/organizational psychologist, workaholism “involves an inner compulsion to work, having persistent thoughts about work, experiencing negative feelings when not working, and working beyond what is reasonably expected.”*
Fact: Workaholics do not perform better than people whose jobs are not consuming them. As a matter of fact, one study proved that nurses who are workaholics make more mistakes than their non-workaholic peers.
Fact: Workaholics actually cause harm to their organization. And themselves. Work addicts report lower life satisfaction and more health complaints than those not consumed by work.
Do you have a strong desire to work all the time? Do you spend your free time thinking about work? Do you get upset if you have to miss a day of work, no matter the reason? Do you work when your coworkers are taking breaks,* or judge coworkers who practice boundaries as lazy or disloyal? You’re a workaholic.
So what’s the solution to workaholism? Organizations can help by adopting a healthy workplace culture with holistic practices. Workaholics themselves can and should reach out for help. Read the article referenced below, for starters.
Here is the most specific and actionable guidance I can give. Take a sabbath day from work. A day when you’d normally check email, go to the office, make phone calls, file reports, etc. Ask the day off if you need. Adjust your schedule. Intentionally. Do. Not. Work.
Second, alert any necessary coworkers about your absence if it helps you truly unplug. This is courtesy to them, and healthy for you. Set up an out office email auto reply if your company policy allows that. This frees you from worrying about unattended emails.
Third, during your day off, don’t get all crazy busy. Don’t overcommit to 17 projects, hoping you can cram them all in because you haven’t had time to do them. Actually, commit to a bunch of down time. Open-ended. No schedules to keep. No appointments to keep. No coworkers to please.
Sleep in and sit around in your jammies. Go for a walk, with nothing you need to get home to do. Get a massage or mani-pedi. Go for a drive, stop somewhere for a 2-hour lunch with a friend that doesn’t need to end on time. Casually stroll through the mall or grocery store without your hair on fire for once.
Finally, spend unhurried time with the Lord. More than you normally do. If you normally don’t do that at all, then just a minute or two is a helpful improvement. If you normally rush through it in 5 minutes, double that to 10 or more. Don’t put an end time on it.
Sit quietly with God. Ask him questions in prayer and meditation where you don’t know the answers, and give him the trust and respect to respond his way.
Just for a day, let go, and let God run the world without your help.
You’ll discover how refreshing it is to work as a finite, limited human being with boundaries, and let God handle the infinite stuff—including your workaholism, which is no more.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2).
*https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/society/2024/are-you-a-workaholic-how-to-spot-the-signs
PRAYER: God, do I work too much? Am I too attached to my identity at work, and not attached enough to my true, best self that you call me to be? Am I a workaholic? I love you, and want more of you, God, than my work. Lead me to a holy, healthy work-life balance. Amen.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP: For a deeper dive into overcommitment and busyness, with a biblically framed rationale and some encouragement, read the book Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung.
