Workaholism

Work alcoholism is a term that most of us have heard a number of times in the present world. Though almost everyone has a vague idea as to what workaholism is, very few are sure of its exact meaning. The term ‘workaholism’ can be taken to mean the situation in which a person is addicted to his work. He has a single aim in mind - work, work and more work! He stretches himself to the point of exhaustion and is constantly worried about meeting deadlines, bagging projects, achieving success, and so on. Many psychiatrists also recognize workaholism as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

 

One of the main reasons that can be attributed to the trait of workaholism is over ambition. Today, people take success to mean material things, such as money, power, status, etc. In order to achieve all these things, they resort to the practice of indulging more and more in their work. The only thing that matters to them is success and for that, they are willing to go to any extent. In case of such people, even the slightest hint of failure can lead to excessive negative behavior, like screaming, shouting, panic attack, and so on.

 

Apart from over-ambition, people can become workaholics as a means to seek an escape from the failures in their personal life. In order to feel good about themselves, they try to achieve more and more at their workplace, which in turn gets them praise and recognition. However, this soon results in more problems at the personal front, as they start giving less time and attention at home. They again follow the escape route provided by work. This way, the cycle moves on and on, never ever coming to an end.

 

Whatever be the reason for workaholism, its result is the same. With more and more time and effort being spent at office, the person starts losing touch with those who matter in his personal life - wife, kids, parents, friends, relatives, etc. He becomes alienated from them and starts failing at the personal front. Apart from that, there are many physical and psychological effects also, such as hypertension, irritability, short temper, palpitation, feeling stressed all the time, fatigue, low energy, etc. If not treated at time, the effects can lead to fatal ailments too.

 

The first step towards treating workaholism is recognizing that you are a workaholic. In short, you cannot solve a problem until you accept that it actually exists. The next will be realizing that a successful person is one who can strike a proper balance between his professional and personal life. Making either of them suffer, at the cost of other, is definitely not a sign of achievement. Give up on all those assignments that demand excessive time and effort and shift down to relatively moderate ones.