Workaholism is a term denoting the desire of a person to work excessively, going beyond the bounds of natural industriousness - a morbid psychological "labor dependence".
People who exhibit this quality are called workaholics.
Workaholism manifests itself in the perception of work as the only (or the most significant) means of self-realization, achieving recognition and obtaining subjective satisfaction from life. For a workaholic, work is at the forefront of life, leaving behind everything else: personal life, family, entertainment, social activities, recreation.
If earlier they looked at workaholism ironically (but generally approvingly) - the attitude was characterized by expressions such as: "this is who everyone else should take an example from", "he (she) works hard and will achieve a lot", then in recent decades psychologists have noted that workaholism is far from harmless and even dangerous to health, like any addiction ...
1. According to statistics, older or only children in the family are more prone to workaholism.
2. Most workaholics are prone to serious mental illness that can cause death.
3. Japanese workers cannot afford to leave their jobs before their superiors.
4. According to psychologists, most workaholics are indecisive and shy.
5. 7% of Europeans are fixated on their work, 5% have persistent depression, 28% have stress, and 33% have chronic diseases caused by working conditions.
6. Germany is ahead of all European countries in the number of workaholics - 200 thousand people. It is followed by Switzerland - 150 thousand people.
7. Workaholism of the first stage (when it is still possible to get rid of this addiction) is treatable with a 14-day vacation.
8. Most of those at risk of becoming dependent on work are residents of the USA, Japan and Israel. In these countries, most workers work 60 hours a week.
9. If you spend 10 or more hours a day at work, you can significantly reduce your immunity.
10.
Over the past 10 years, death in the office has become a normal phenomenon - now people die in the workplace 1.5 times more often.
11. The Japanese have a special word "karoshi" - literally, "death from overwork at work."
12. Japanese workaholism is the cause of approximately 1,000 deaths a year, 5% of heart attacks and strokes in employees under 60.
13. The Dutch call workaholism a "leisure time disease." According to scientists, about 3% of the working population suffers from it. It manifests itself in the fact that on weekends or vacations, a person can really get sick from lack of work.
14. Workaholism, like a real illness, has its own symptoms, causes, consequences, and "treatments."
15. Symptoms of workaholism:
16. Reasons for workaholism:
17. A variety of workaholics - "rush workers" - people who enjoy work in conditions of stress and emergency. Even with enough time to get the job done, they'll leave things to the last minute. After spending half of their working time gossiping with colleagues or playing on the computer, at the end of the day they remember their responsibilities. And in order to finish everything on time, they stay in the office and work on a tight schedule, getting dubious pleasure from this.
Previously, you loved to go fishing regularly, but now you are wondering what you could like about this pointless vigil with a fishing rod on the shore? When your friends ask when you will be able to find time to sit with them in a bar over a glass of beer, you answer, “I don’t know,” puzzled, but after examining your working calendar in your communicator, with a doubtful voice, set the date in two months? Have you completely forgotten what the word "vacation" means, and all you want to talk about is your job? If the answer to all questions is yes, please accept my sincere condolences: you are definitely sucked into the swamp of workaholism.
The term itself was invented in 1968 by the American psychologist Wayne Watts, composing it from two words - "work" and "alcoholism". The neologism very soon became widespread and was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Watts revealed the essence of this phenomenon in his book "Confessions of a Workaholic", which became especially popular in the 90s of the XX century thanks to the then widespread movement "Help Yourself", dedicated to liberation from addictions, to which, along with drug addiction and drunkenness, was equated and workaholism.
Idle pastime is not the lot of workaholics. Only work makes them happier and completely occupies all thoughts. Well, dad could not come to his daughter's school play! It was much more important to stay in the office and finish the report. Workaholics are terribly annoyed when others have priorities that are a step above work. Holidays? Weekends? Family vacation? "Nonsense! Nonsense!" - would have exclaimed the inveterate workaholic Ebenezer Scrooge, the character of Charles Dickens' immortal work "A Christmas Carol". On weekends, workaholics heroically fight as with something harmful, not understanding why they are needed at all, when they need to work, and despise sleep, finding it a useless waste of time.
Thanks to modern technology, workaholics, even outside the office, can engage in business matters through mobile phones, tablets or laptops. However, blaming technical progress for the development of workaholism is the same as blaming a supermarket for developing food addiction, and calling the liquor department a hotbed of drunkenness. Easy access to work and hours of work do not turn a person into a workaholic. It would be a mistake to apply this term to people who are overworked and sweat a raise to send their kids to college. These workers dream of a seaside vacation or a ski resort and appreciate the leisure time spent with family and friends. But if a true workaholic suffers the misfortune of being on vacation, he feels like a fish thrown onto dry land. Unable to relax, he languishes with melancholy and longs to quickly return to the office to his duties. Obsessed with a thirst for activity, just like an alcoholic, unnoticed by others sipping from bottles hidden in caches throughout the house, he secretly tries to plunge through the Internet into his familiar world of permanent employment.
It would seem that workaholics are the dream of any boss! A staff of employees who come to work early at dawn and sit late, taking on mountains of work. And on vacation or on sick leave they can only be pushed out. But it is precisely these qualities that turn into harm. Workaholics are always looking for ways to stand out from the crowd by taking full responsibility for the results of their work. However, obsession with work and perfectionism prevent workaholics from being good team players. As a rule, they are not able to entrust a certain piece of work to one of their colleagues, being convinced that no one can do it better than them. Like gluttons trying to bite off more than they can chew, workaholics overload themselves with tasks they simply cannot complete on time. Workaholics are terrified that if they do not work painstakingly, they will be laid off, and are constantly nervous during the implementation of a project, even when everything is going like clockwork. They ignore weekends and postpone vacation indefinitely, neglecting sleep and sometimes personal hygiene.
Workaholics manage not to stop working even while eating, and their food consists mainly of coffee with a cigarette "bite". And the consequence of many hours of work without proper rest is nervous exhaustion, characterized by symptoms such as chronic fatigue, forgetfulness, insomnia, irritability, depression, headaches and sudden mood swings, which in combination means a decrease or complete loss of working capacity. Therefore, there is nothing to be surprised that from the point of view of doctors workaholism is a disease, a mental disorder that is a serious illness dangerous to the human body.
Reasons for workaholism
According to psychological research, the seeds of workaholism are often laid as early as childhood, taking root and flourishing in adulthood. For people from disadvantaged backgrounds, an obsession with work is an attempt to control an uncontrollable situation. And the children of perfectionist parents grow up in constant stress, being sure that they are not doing everything well enough, because they are expected to be brilliant achievements without any reservations. The essence of the problem is that any person striving for unattainable perfection is prone to workaholism, because he finds himself in a situation in which he is unable to reach the finish line, painfully resembling a squirrel in a wheel from Krylov's fable.
But what about the predictions of an idle society and escape from long hours of work? At the end of the 18th century, one of the founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, whose portrait flaunts on a hundred dollar bill, predicted that in the 21st century people would work four hours a week. In 1965, a subcommittee of the United States Senate projected a 22-hour workweek by the mid-1980s and a 14-hour workweek by the beginning of the third millennium. However, none of these predictions came true. Quite the opposite, the number of working hours has been growing steadily over the past 20 years.
In the United States and Great Britain, for example, every sixth person works more than 60 hours a week, and according to Canadian statistics, about a third of the country's residents are workaholics. In the Netherlands, an obsession with work has spawned a new ailment called "leisure sickness," estimated by experts to affect 3% of the population. On weekends and vacations, workers, having lost the need to work, lose peace of mind and become physically ill.
In Japan, presenteeism has become a social disaster. In many companies, a 12-hour day is considered commonplace, and employees often sleep in the office because there is no point in wasting time on the trip home. Large firms require their employees to be absolutely flexible in their work schedules, and although most Japanese employees are entitled to 30 days of vacation, many, fearing dismissal, take no more than six days. The terminal stage of workaholism in the Land of the Rising Sun is called "karosi", which means death from overwork. Strenuous work without a breath causes thousands of deaths a year, including suicide, and provokes about 5% of strokes and heart attacks in Japanese employees under the age of 60. This is exactly what happened to the Prime Minister of Japan, Keizo Obuchi, who was literally knocked off his feet by intense work. In April 2000, when he coordinated the activities related to the volcanic eruption on the island of Hokkaido, after several days of continuous hassle, the Prime Minister was hospitalized with a severe stroke. On the same day, he lost consciousness and fell into a coma, and a month later, without regaining consciousness, he died.
Social conditions often create a favorable breeding ground for the development of workaholism. Work-obsessed people tend to be smart, ambitious, and adventurous. Their brilliant career and financial well-being are envy and admirable. But from the outside it is not visible that the way of life of these "darlings of fate" who are in captivity of dependence is like a noose around the neck, which sooner or later will begin to tighten.
An effective fertilizer for workaholism is the widespread misconception that hard work is the path to wealth and prosperity, and the only way to get what you want is to work much harder than others. However, living examples easily refute this supposed formula for success. One of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, has a small office with only a few people. He himself devotes only about three hours a day to work, not neglecting weekends.
And Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who have been elected twice as presidents of the United States of America, have never been known for hard work. Although, if you remember the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who achieved sky-high success in his life, he was a famous workaholic. As, by the way, and his successor Tim Cook, who begins to send emails to colleagues at 5:30 in the morning, and on Sundays torments managers with conference calls.
How to treat workaholism?
The reality is that workaholism is just the tip of the iceberg, the outward manifestation of deep inner emotional distress. Despite the obvious symptoms, work-obsessed people categorically deny their addiction. Like patients with anorexia, who, looking at the reflection of their skinny body in the mirror, contrary to common sense, see themselves as fat. Therefore, the treatment of workaholism should begin with the awareness of the problem and the desire to break free from the shackles of addiction. For a workaholic, using weekends and vacations as intended is like learning to walk again. The help of relatives and friends with the assistance of professionals in the person of psychologists plays a significant role in successful healing.
Happiness is when work is fun, but it is just a part of your existence, and after a hard day, it is better for her to stay in the office and not interfere with her family at home. You work to live, not live to work. She should not be the only source of positive emotions, as is the case with workaholics. Maintain a work-life balance. If a job is all you have, then an impressive resume and colossal work achievements will be little consolation in illness and loneliness. Is it so important to be obsessive about getting a promotion and a raise in order to buy a big house and a fancy car, if there are no more friends, family relationships are in ruins, and you will one day have a blow from overstrain? Learn to enjoy life, it's not just sitting at your desk. The ability to work hard is much more valuable if it is harmoniously combined with the art of competently organizing your leisure time.
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Workaholism - addiction (addiction) to work. This is a personality-destroying pattern of behavior. The first thing that catches your eye is the consonance of the term with "alcoholism". In terms of the strength of the consequences and the specifics of the formation, workaholism can really be equated with chemical addiction.
Every person who wants to achieve prosperity in life is forced to work intensively. But not every worker becomes a workaholic.
Trudolism develops in 4 stages:
- The initial stage of workaholism. An employee sometimes stays at work, but thoughts about it are often present, which is already reflected in his personal life.
- Critical stage. Fatigue accumulates, sleep is disturbed, work takes up all the place in a person's life.
- Chronic workaholism. and physiological failures become more noticeable, the workaholic is gaining responsibilities that he cannot fulfill, he becomes.
- The final. Working capacity is rapidly declining, mental and physical health is fading away, fatigue accumulates, exhaustion becomes pronounced. Apathy, alcohol abuse, smoking, overeating are signs of an approaching end. If at this moment the person does not recognize the problem and does not start to fight, then the situation will become irreparable - a nervous breakdown, heart attack, death.
Addiction develops gradually. At first, it is not noticed by the employee himself, and the environment perceives this as a professional advantage. However, behind this it is forgotten that human resources are not infinite. At an intensive pace of work, fatigue will accumulate, which sooner or later will lead to psychophysiological and, diseases, deterioration of physical and mental health.
Types of workaholics
The most popular type is conscientious, which is characterized by:
- great diligence, love of cleanliness and order, high costs and despite them average results;
- perfectionism in everything, including observance of moral standards, exactingness towards oneself and others;
- the complexity of the choice, long weighing of the pros and cons, the desire to always do the right thing;
- obsession with little things;
- stubbornness, straightforwardness and determination in achieving the goal;
- incorrect prioritization, the desire to systematize and streamline everything;
- inability to express, relieve stress and, accumulation and fatigue.
The prognosis and features of rehabilitation work with a workaholic depend on the type of patient. In psychology, the following types of workaholics are distinguished:
- For others. The person himself is satisfied with his activity, but his relatives and friends suffer, they see a problem in workaholism. It is impossible to help such a person, since the main principle of any correctional work is the desire of the patient himself, his recognition of the problem.
- For yourself. A person works hard, but at the same time realizes how much the other areas of his life suffer. A “workaholic for himself” experiences conflicting emotions and feelings. You can help him.
- A successful workaholic. A person who has reached great heights, more often he himself does not see the problem.
- A loser workaholic. Engages in useless and unproductive activities, imitates important activities, fills the void in life. If he admits the problem, then you can help him.
- A hidden workaholic. Publicly complains about the work, his unwillingness to do it, but in fact, he directs all his forces into this area. He is guided by two forces - the fear of inner emptiness, close relationships and the desire to surpass other people (roots in a demanding childhood). You can help if the problem is recognized as an addict.
Any kind of workaholism is a form of self-destructive behavior. A workaholic can enjoy the feeling of being needed and important, irreplaceable, but behind all this lies a low and.
Reasons for workaholism
Workaholism occurs under the influence of several factors, more often their combination:
- Intrapersonal factors. These include, the features of the experience.
- External factors. This category is made up of the features of the development environment and the situation in the country.
- Biological factors: neurohumoral regulation, adaptability,.
The last group of reasons is worth explaining. When a person is passionate about work, gradually, without noticing it, he drives the body into a state of stress. In response, all body systems tense up and begin to work at maximum speeds, a lot of adrenaline and other hormones are produced, which together give a feeling of a surge of strength and euphoria. In the future, in order to experience these sensations again, a person consciously works hard. This is how addiction is formed. But gradually the stress turns into, and instead of euphoria comes apathy, exhaustion.
There is another reason for workaholism - a departure from reality (not always conscious). Plunging into work, a person is cut off from other aspects of life, he does not need to solve problems, since he has no time, or he simply does not notice them. Thus, problems in or rejection of oneself (loneliness) may well become the cause of workaholism.
The risk of developing workaholism is higher for employees of organizations in which independence is suppressed and, there is a plan and an orientation towards quantity rather than quality of work, there is a fixation on formalities (reports, reports), the presence of petty control (disrespect for the individual and mistrust).
Signs of workaholism
With workaholism:
- Work replaces hobbies, relationships, family.
- At the same time, the excess of labor activity is not caused by financial needs, material income is not a goal. However, the workaholic convinces himself and those around him that the reason for overwork is financial difficulties.
- The addict experiences a fear of failure before his family and himself.
- There is a compulsive desire for constant success, approval from the environment.
- There is a constant fixation at work, the person does not know how to relax and regularly experiences anxiety.
- Due to the previous features arise with friends and family, a person is more and more immersed in his own experiences.
A workaholic is characterized by rigid (immobile, conservative, inflexible) thinking, lack of criticism, and progressive involvement in work.
Are you a workaholic?
Take the following test to determine if you have become a workaholic (the questionnaire was developed by S. A. Shapiro and N. E. Ravikovich). Answer yes or no to the following questions.
- Do you take work home or on vacation?
- Do you think about work often?
- Are you working at a fast pace?
- Do you avoid talking about your job and how much you work?
- Do you feel like working continuously while you have enough strength?
- Do you use excuses for your overwork?
- Are you aggressive towards the people around you?
- Do you sometimes try to force yourself not to work or work less?
- Do you feel remorse and guilt for being overworked?
- Have you tried to regulate your working hours or move to a new place of work with strict regulations?
- Do you often change your place of work or field of activity?
- Is your entire lifestyle tailored to work?
- Are you losing interest in acquaintances who are not related to work?
- Are you feeling sorry for yourself?
- Has your personal or family life changed for the worse due to work?
- Are you trying to stock up on work for the future?
- Do you miss meals because of work?
- Did you end up in the hospital for work (overwork)?
- Do you often work in the evenings, additionally on weekends?
- Did you have to work continuously for days?
- Have you noticed a weakening of your performance?
If you answered yes to more than 5 questions, then you are a workaholic. An affirmative answer to 10 or more questions indicates a difficult and dangerous stage of workaholism.
Consequences of workaholism
Workaholism is a chronic emotional stress for the body, which ends with disorders, physical and mental illnesses. The personality of the workaholic changes smoothly, but significantly, while the patient himself does not notice these transformations:
- decreased communication skills and needs (due to lack of time, a person communicates less and less with friends and family, without practice, communication skills weaken);
- immersion in oneself, isolation, fixation on one's own;
- passion for virtual games, the Internet or alcohol;
- coldness and alienation in interpersonal relationships;
- inability to rejoice, relax and have fun;
- loss of previous interests;
- conflicts;
- outbursts, anger;
- quick fatigue and irritation due to the fact that previously given easy work requires incredible costs;
- decline and emotional exhaustion.
Every day it is more difficult for a workaholic to find the strength to communicate, he subconsciously avoids situations of social activity, problem solving, serious conversations, and raising children. Even communication with animals becomes a burden. Preference is given to communicating with inanimate objects or with people via the Internet.
Gradually, a person completely withdraws into himself, becomes lonely, gloomy, apathetic and joyless. Other addictions are applied to the existing addiction - eating disorders.
Psychosomatic complications in workaholics, as a rule, are cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, hypertension), indigestion (ulcer), respiratory disorders (asthma, spasms). If these problems are a consequence of workaholism, then it will not be possible to get rid of them as long as the dependence on work is alive. Workaholics have been visiting doctors for years, but categorically exclude the possibility of visiting a psychologist (psychotherapist). When family members hint at this, the workaholic gets irritated, angry, and aggressive.
If you lose your job or on vacation, the hospital workaholism is replaced by another addiction. Workaholics die much earlier than other people. On average, 35-60 years old.
Helping the workaholic
To control the condition yourself, adhere to the following recommendations (they are the same for men and women):
- The basis of any kind of workaholism is fear. What are you afraid of? or vice versa social contacts? Failure or punishment? This is where the help of a psychotherapist is needed, since the reason, for sure, lies in childhood. A psychologist will help you find out what exactly workaholism protects you from.
- Deconstruct each of the other components of workaholism about yourself. We are talking about such elements: the need to be needed and significant (valuable, irreplaceable), filling time and inner emptiness, achieving harmony with oneself (self-acceptance), constructive expression of negative emotions. Learn to tackle each of these points in a healthy way, without leaving addictions and socially unacceptable behaviors.
- Learn to use the results of your labor, get rid of the belief "I am useful only while I work." Often, workaholics give all their successes and results to other people, such as family. And the wife is glad that her husband is a hard worker, and does not notice that her husband is about to die at work.
- Find out your needs and interests, learn to satisfy them. Get to know your specifics. This is necessary in order to understand what, in addition to work, will allow you to enjoy life.
- Stop playing the role of savior, counselor. Workaholics often try to shift control to those around them, their professional and personal lives. Naturally, they expect a sea of \u200b\u200bgratitude and a sense of a sense of significance, but laudatory odes do not always follow the advice. And then what? Even more negativity and departure to work. Stop being a parent everywhere and everywhere, get hold of your inner child and adult.
Afterword
Workaholism is harmful to physical and mental health. Like any employee, a workaholic experiences fatigue, he feels it, but does not allow him to acknowledge and follow her lead. They also suppress any ailments, because diseases in workaholics are detected at very advanced stages. This moment becomes a turning point. This is followed by either getting rid of workaholism, eliminating traumatic situations, changing lifestyle, taking care of health, or - death (at work).
Even if a person does not use drugs and does not poison his body with alcohol, he still tries to find a loophole for himself in the cycle of everyday life, through which he can escape for a while from psychological problems to an alternative world and find a special, "happy" state, thanks to: games, extreme sports, sects, computer games, work ...
Workaholism is a society-approved, morbid dependence on work (the desire of a person to overwork, which goes far beyond natural industriousness). It manifests itself in the perception of work as the only (or the most significant) means of self-realization, achieving recognition and obtaining subjective satisfaction from life and is a kind of protection against anxiety and uncertainty about the future, problems in personal life.
Once having received pleasure and a state of euphoria after a job well done (when a sense of self-worth rises to the skies), a workaholic will strive for this again and again until work becomes his meaning in life and everything else can no longer bring pleasure (he will just be sorry to spend time for sleep, rest, friends).
Depriving a workaholic of the opportunity to do work means the unattainability of the longed-for pleasure, the lack of work will cause a real "withdrawal", reminiscent of the withdrawal state with alcoholism. At the same time, pleasant events familiar to people do not become a real alternative for a workaholic: just as an alcoholic is looking for a way to take another dose of alcohol, he will look for any opportunity to do business. For a workaholic, work is at the forefront of life, leaving behind everything else: personal life, family, entertainment. But, if earlier everyone else had to take an example from workaholics, then in recent years they began to believe that workaholism is far from being as harmless as it seemed, and dangerous to health (it leads to overwork, stress, psychosomatic diseases, depressive disorders, phobic fears , vegetative-vascular dystonia, early impotence, exhausting insomnia, etc.).
A variety of social problems will also result from workaholism: a narrowing of the circle of friends, an unfavorable climate in the family, the inability to arrange a personal life. The workaholic runs away to work, because he cannot solve the existing psychological problems in relationships with people in a constructive way and is not able to eliminate his inner conflict.
You can find out workaholism due to the following signs:
A person loses the ability to objectively assess his condition, convinces himself that he is working for some abstract goal and absolutely does not understand that the path of occupational therapy is a dead end and he is unlikely to be able to realize himself in it as a person.
After hard work, it is impossible for a workaholic to switch to other activities. He often needs alcohol in order to just fall asleep and "pass out".
He believes that satisfaction can only be experienced at work.
He feels energetic, confident and self-sufficient only by working, or thinking about work (if he does not work, then he feels dissatisfaction and irritation, which breaks down on loved ones).
Such a person is usually gloomy in everyday life, uncompromising, but dramatically changes for the better at work.
When completing a task, a workaholic is frustrated that soon "it will all be over" and immediately begins to think about the next task.
He does not understand the meaning of rest and receiving joy from it, panicky avoids the state of "doing nothing".
After work, in order to understand what loved ones want, a workaholic needs to make an incredible effort on himself, because even at home his thoughts are focused on the object of work.
He is characterized by the words: “everything”, “always”, “I must”, he usually sets goals for himself that he cannot achieve and makes excessive demands on himself.
Any failure at work is perceived by him as a personal disaster.
He is afraid of making a mistake, he is kept in constant stress by the fear that he will be accused of incompetence and irresponsibility.
He tries in every possible way to devote as little time as possible to his family, justifying this by the fact that work brings money, compensating for attention with gifts.
All activities that are not related to work, he perceives as aimless and useless pastime. Dinner with relatives for him is perceived as climbing the fire of the Inquisition. Talking of friends about personal adventures and their lives (children, hobbies, fishing), films, magazines, popular entertainment programs cause him irritation and a feeling of “wasted time”.
The cause of workaholism can be a consequence of an experienced traumatic situation, the negative imprints of which force one to resort to a protective mechanism - the behavior of escape. For example, a person could not competently cope with stress after a divorce or does not want to work on changing his own worldview, so he tries to hide from mental suffering at work. Someone becomes a workaholic because of the total poverty in the family or because of the parental attitude: "all happiness is in money." Another reason for workaholism is the spiritual emptiness of the personality, when an individual cannot fill his world with some positive moments and bright colors - he is simply bored with life.
Workaholism can also be a consequence of perfectionism with pedantry. A person, trying to do everything in the best possible way, constantly checks himself, improves his methods of work, strives to improve quality. He does not trust himself, so he is ready to constantly live by work in order to prove that he is at least capable of something. Workaholism is often combined with alcoholism and emotional addiction. A workaholic can care a lot about others, giving them the impression of parental care. However, at the same time, he puts the person under guardianship in an infantile dependence, makes him feel inept, stupid, dependent.
The reason for this concern is not sympathy, but perfectionism and the need for self-affirmation at someone else's expense: "I know everything and can do better than you."
Thinking of a person that he somehow does not quite harmoniously distribute the time of his life can only help him, perhaps, a state of serious illness, when finally there is time to be alone with himself and rethink his system of values. Neither divorce, nor an active rebellion or coldness of children, nor his wife's talk about being too busy can stop him - he, like all addicts, does not see any problem in this and will furiously convince her otherwise. At the same time, he will be sincerely insulted in response to the statement that he pays little attention to the woman. Well, of course - he invests all the money he earns in a developing life, in paying bills, in the development and education of children. He is used to measuring happiness in money and does not understand the claims made to him. But human warmth, spending time together, intimacy, communication and love cannot be bought for money, and sooner or later conflicts begin to occur in the family, the result of which is often divorce. Or the wife resigns herself to the situation and begins to use it to her advantage - she drags more and more money out of her husband for various entertainment and can have a lover in order to somehow brighten up her loneliness.
It often happens that a workaholic only in the face of death notices the universal longing for unrealized opportunities. Suddenly realizing that he had lived his life far from the way he wanted and that all this incomprehensible running around was really not needed by anyone. Like Alexander the Great, who asked to be buried with open hands.
But there are also situations when people jump from workaholism to the other extreme. In my practice, there was a case when a co-founder of a large enterprise one morning presented shares to his partner and left for a monastery for two years, after which he could not and did not want to work for a long time - he enjoyed the sun, walked in the park, caught fish, watched films, was engaged in desperate idleness ... all those on which he used to be sorry to waste time. He was able to hear his needs, albeit at such a cost.
For the most part, workaholics cannot do this, ignoring the problem, continuing to “burn out at work,” avoiding communicating with themselves and not trying to change anything. Indeed, in order to do this, you must, first of all, recognize the existence of a problem and find the reason for such an escape from reality, allow yourself to get enough sleep, set clear boundaries for yourself and employers (for example, I work until 19:00, Sunday is a day off), listen to your desires, find something to fill your free time and learn to enjoy it.
Consider workaholism as a psychological addiction.
In order to achieve status in life, to move up the career ladder, to gain public approval, many people become dependent on work, spending all their free time on it. This is called workaholism.
Prerequisites for workaholism
Where does the feeling of the need for work come from? Why can't you leave? There are several reasons for this addiction.
Man is a pedant. He tries to make everything perfect, work is no exception to this.
... So this is an attempt to prove to yourself that you can.
Childhood decides a lot in life. Parents set up that one cannot be happy without money, that one must achieve something, succeed. Or vice versa, the child grew up in a dysfunctional family, and when he grew up he decided to become the opposite of his parents.
There are some troubles in life. The person decides to go headlong into work, so as not to remember anything, not to think about the problem.
Self-centeredness mixed with melancholy. The subject, as it were, shows that it is difficult for him at work, provokes self-pity - no one does anything, and all the work was thrown onto him.
It should not be forgotten that the work itself can be the cause of workaholism:
- permanent reports;
- control over the effectiveness of employees;
- implementation of plans.
All this nervousness only interferes with the normal work process.
What does workaholism lead to?
As a result of the fact that a person spends more time at work, social ties are weakened, he moves away from loved ones, friends, relatives and withdraws into himself. Communication skills are lost. There is a feeling of emptiness.
The accumulation of stress and overwork causes mental illness, in particular, and physical illness (heart and nerve diseases). Since all free time is devoted to work, a person ceases to develop as a person and degrades.
Even employers find it unprofitable to keep a workaholic subordinate:
- he has to pay for processing;
- such a person negatively affects the mood in the team;
- despite the great desire to express oneself in work, the efficiency of the work itself does not increase.
It is preferable to take a person who will do everything quickly and efficiently, than the one who will “look after” at work and stretch the deadline for an indefinite time.
There are also positive aspects to workaholism: for example, it can help to cope with other addictions (alcohol, drug, love).
How to deal with workaholism?
Only if a person realizes that he has such an addiction, only then can this ailment be healed. However, most workaholic sufferers are not inclined to consider this a disease and are in no hurry to be treated.
If a person decides to change their life, the first thing they should do is prioritize. Naturally, work should not come first in them. And we must try to follow this concept.
For example, you need to change your attitude to what is happening - you can find yourself a hobby that can interest you; it is desirable that it starts immediately after the end of the working day. Thus, there will be no opportunity to stay at work, and everything will have to be completed on time.
Stop taking work home. At home, you need to devote more time to family and friends, because only they, loving and caring, will be there for the rest of their lives. Also, do not forget about rest: you need to go to unwind, dance, meditate, go in for sports.
If the workaholism is caused by the work itself, you should take a break, change the department or the job itself, take a vacation and just relax. Contact a specialist psychologist, he will help to establish the causes of the problem and understand yourself. Remember, these simple tips can help you get rid of frustration and workaholism effortlessly.
