The Trouble with Being a Workaholic

Wikipedia describes a workaholic as “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.”

I love that second sentence.

So, here is the real problem with being a workaholic person, even if you want to stop, you can’t. You just become a workaholic about not being a workaholic. I know, because this is me. I have times at work that are extremely high paced and intense and times that lull. From a survival perspective, I know I’m supposed to take advantage of the lull and re-coup my energy for the next spurt of intensity. You know, drop my workaholic tendencies and just sit back, relax and ‘enjoy the quiet.’ There are two major problems with this. As a workaholic, we may be able to sit back and relax and enjoy some quiet time, but not at work. You may think I’m exaggerating here but I’m not. To a workaholic, the notion of relaxing at work is as incomprehensible as well…I can’t think of anything more incomprehensible to compare it to. Work is, after all, supposed to be work. The second problem with this theory is that a workaholic needs work to stay energized. Like any other addict needs their drug, we need work. How sick is that?

Sad and sick, but true. I know. The lulls just suck the energy and motivation right out of us and then we become like trolls - grumpy and willing to eat you if you dare walk over our bridge. You might even see us hunched over our computers, drooling and scowling.

So, here is the workaholic’s dilemma. When there is a lull, in order to not turn into a troll, do I move slower through the tasks on my to do list and try to make them last throughout the day or, do I get them all done in the first hour at the office and then twiddle my thumbs or just make stuff up for the rest of the day?

The problem with the first is that it is also against the grain of the workaholic to slow down – we’re ruthlessly efficient and deadline driven. We like nothing better than to check off the list and move on. We get a sick sense of accomplishment if we can look back at the end of the day and know we got through everything on our list. And the more on our list the better. You know what I’m talking about, workaholics out there. Even if you aren’t a workaholic you know who we are, you can spot us a mile away. We’re the ones smiling smugly, one might even say ‘smirking,’ as we leave the building at the end of the day. Don’t mind us, we’re just reveling in our own sense of self worth.

So, moving slow, though it might make sense from a recharging perspective, will just make us twitchy and, well, probably unrecognizable by the end day. (I know, some of you might think this would be a good thing and you’re probably right.)

On the other hand, if we get through our tasks in the first hour of the day and then have nothing to do but live inside our own heads, well, that might be even scarier. You never know what we’ll come up with if we have a lot of ‘free’ time. You think the scope of that project only includes reconciling billing practices in a subsidiary? WRONG! It is now a comprehensive plan to reduce our environmental foot print, bring about world peace AND reconcile the world’s major religious conflicts through our very own new and improved reconciliation tool!

And by the way, if you’re wondering if you’re a workaholic or not? If you read the previous paragraph and found yourself nodding – welcome to the club.

It’s a mighty dilemma and I know all of my fellow workaholics will commiserate with me on this one. Luckily however, being a workaholic, I can create a whole project, if only in my own mind, on how to resolve it. In fact, it might take me months to formulate. In the meantime, I think I’ll just keep posting to this blog.