Don’t die for a dead line!

It seems nowadays that it’s not so much about working hard to sustain life and make ends meet; working too hard or too much has become something of an addiction or compulsion. Why should we be working harder when our quality of life is better? Isn’t that a contradiction? Katharina case explores the phenomenon of workaholism….

There is a different between a hard worker and a workaholic. Hard workers are those that put in 100 percent of their effort to every job, but once that job is done they get on with the rest of their life. Workaholics, by contrast are people who place work at the top of their priorities, for a variety of reasons. The workaholic is not in control of his life, and cannot set the important boundary between work and life. It is surprisingly easy to fall into a pattern of work being the main focus and the rest of life being secondary, or even non existent.

You may assume that the majority of people would do anything to work less and play more. This could be generally correct; however, if someone’s only source of fulfillment or form of amusement is work, then work becomes something desirable. In fact, a slow descent into workaholism will often cause alienation from friends and family , and in turn work becomes the only thing of value in someone’s life. Many people have a love-hate relationship with work stressfull and challenging, yet at the same they need that stress and challenge in their lives as a form of motivation or amusement.

Addicted to work

The label ‘workaholic’ does not simply correlate directly with the number of hours someone’s work. Working long hours is the unavoidable norm in the life of many professionals, such as a lawyers ,doctors, accountants, consultants, academics,, and teachers. You could safely say that when people get into these types of jobs, they have a general understanding of the level of work involved and an expectation in relation to the length of working hours. It is also probable that the types of people who get into these professions in the first place are those that are prone to workaholism.

A classic sign of a workaholic is someone who fears that the work task or project will all ‘fall apart’ when he or she isn’t at work. It is often the person who takes the most responsibility for a project. Workaholism can begin with a short stint of working excessive hours to finish an important task. Many people actually produce better work under pressure, and if the outcome is successful, it can be easy to continue to work in this way and being certain of producing good work. Supervisors begin to expect large amount of output and often don’t realize the amount of effort required.

A way out

According to one theory, preventing or stopping workaholism is all about setting boundaries, in order to be clear on what is work and what is life. For example, even if you work from home, setting a boundary would be ensuring that you’re working a set number of hours during the dan and working only in the study and not in the lounge room or bedroom. Such arrangements make sense in most cases. Working can be a great tool to help get you back on track after a confusing time in your life, particularly if it involves adhering to a routine. Using work as a way of moving forward with your life may be effective in the short term, but it is unhealthy to have nothing in your life except work.

A sign of the times.

A hundreds years ago most people didn’t worry too much or too little, they didn’t have a choice. Working was usually about earning a living and there was a clear distinction between work and a leisure time- if there was any of the letter to be had. You made ends meet by working and the difference between what was needed and what was unnecessary was clear. People didn’t worry about the luxurious ; they just worked, earned their living and lived.

Things have changed. According to one current theory, the acquisition of goods- that is consumerism- is a direct cause of workaholism. What was previously considered luxury and is now considered vital. A recent opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by Oliver James discusses this theory, saying that in the letter part of the twentieth century, consumption itself became ‘ a need, not just a want’. The change in the society is described as a vicious circle, whereby the more people worked, the higher the standard of consumption became, which in turn increased working hours. Mr. James suggested that instead of indulging in workaholism to keep up with societal pressures, people should ‘create a new domestic economy of regard’ between themselves that ‘ makes life worth living’. It is true to say that allowing work to take over your life in order to maintain a high standard of living ( which you can never fully appreciate because you’re working so hard) is not the ideal and should be avoided. However, in reality, those supposed ‘luxurious’ really are necessities for some people; things like a reliable car, a descent house, insurance a credit card could all be considered luxurious, but for many different reasons they’re all things some people can’t do without. So it’s not enough to say we should be willing to describe luxurious in order to have more time with out families. Some people have sacrifices as much as they can and still have to work long hours in order to make ends meet.

Should be continued……………….