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Jul
12
Sub-title: “The Curse Of Work-a-holism and How To Overcome It”
This is from an article that I wrote several years ago and that I am now dividing into two parts. The first part is about the symptoms associated with people who are referred to as workaholics.
Excuse my digression from my regular writing of marketing articles and let me apply my psychology degree to a matter at hand that many people tend to forget. . That is that we were not meant to work all of our waking hours. Please excuse the length of the article, as there is much to be said about the subject matter.
Back in the late 1960’s the rock group The Byrds came out with a song called Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season). It’s lyrics came at a time when the world was undergoing the turmoil of the Vietnam War and reminded people that what was going on at the time was just a part of the evolution of time passing by and that the war to would pass in its time. The lyrics of the song are based on the Bible Verse taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1-9: The words taken from the Bible in one translation are as follows:
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
Do any of the following situations remind you of yourself?
1 Lately, your job has taken up much of your time.
2 You’ve even started bringing work at home and you keep working until the wee hours of the morning.
3 You spend Saturdays and Sundays with your head bent on your work.
4 And you’re supposed to spend these days with your family, or friends, or for your relaxation!
5 No longer do you work in order to live, but you now live in order to work.
6 Work is now the center of your daily life, while the more important things have been relegated to the trunk of your car; or in the backseat, if things are still not that worse.
7 The only time you don’t think of work is during the three or four hours a day that you spend sleeping.
8 You devote 16 hours of your day each day to working furiously: making money, reaching goals, working on giving your families the best, planning and mobilizing yourself for success.
If you have a combination of more than three of these situations occurring in your life it is most likely that you’ve become a workaholic.
Yes, there is a time to work, but there must also be a balance. There must be a time to relax. What can cause another wise seemingly sane person to become a work-a-holic? It is like alcoholism a disease in many ways.
If someone’s home life is unhappy they might rather than spend time going to a bar after work hours instead spend time after regular work hours doing more than necessary just to avoid going home for the evening. They may take work home with them and seclude themselves from their spouse or other family members with the excuse that the work has to be finished. This can become a pattern, since it is a way of avoiding situations that are not easily dealt with by the “work-a-holic”. Money problems, can lead to a person becoming obsessed with working. Once it starts, the work-a-holic personality feels as if they must continue to work or things will not get finished. The work-a-holic likes to shoulder the weight of the world. But this can lead to stress.
It is different things to different people. To a mountaineer it is the challenge of pushing physical resources to the limit by striving to achieve a demanding goal. To the homeward bound motorist it can be the hassles of heavy traffic and obnoxious exhaust fumes. To the student it can be exam pressure.
Take a piece of paper and write the word stress at the top. Now write down all the words and images that come to your mind as you think about this word.
Most people respond to the word stress in negative ways. They see it as a destructive, debilitating force.
Negative stress is DISTRESS. It is the stress of losing, failing, overworking and not coping. Distress affects people in a negative often, harmful manner. We all experience distress from time to time. It is a normal, unavoidable part of living.
To often those who become the obsessed workaholic go on and on until they experience the defeat at the end of the road often known as BURNOUT
Too much stress leads to burnout, a condition called BURNOUT, which is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion.
The main symptoms associated with burnout are:
Chronic fatigue.
Anger at those making demands on you.
Self-criticism for putting up with the demands.
Cynicism, negativism and irritability.
A sense of being besieged.
Hair-trigger display of emotions.
A combination of all of these symptoms indicates that stress of working more than you should is wearing you down and that it is now time to take strong stand to do something about it.
Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day is an expression used a lot as an excuse of not getting a project finished. “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day”, has been used as an excuse by people who don’t complete their tasks. It has also used by those trying to console those who have not finished a task or are trying to hard to complete a project in a certain amount of time.
If you are of the Christian faith then you hopefully subscribe to the creation story of God creating the Universe and the earth in 6 days. In Genesis 2:1-3 it is written “1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2: And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done. 3: So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.”
We are not as mighty as God and yet according to this Biblical text even God rested after working. Who are we to put ourselves above God and not take a break from our work? We don’t want to work ourselves into the condition of “burnout” so what can we do to overcome the obsessive-compulsive habits of workaholism?
Part 2 of this article will explore ways in which you can relax and enjoy life more. Although work is important there is much more to life than work.
Nov
18
The Why Not Me Movie
Filed Under Inspiration | Leave a Comment
How many times have you wondered why you aren’t successful, fortunate or happy as some other people seem to be? Why haven’t you accomplished this or that? Do you believe you don’t have it in you? I beg to disagree, you do have the potential. This little three minute movie Why Not Me? asks you to examine yourself, and answer Why Not Me? and ask yourself better questions that will create more happiness and opportunity for you. This little movie helps you to contemplate what questions you should really be asking when you ask why not me.
Why not create more happiness and opportunity for yourself? Watch the Why Not Me? movie today.
Technorati Tags: happiness, success, fortune, asking the right questions, inspiration, motivation
Oct
29
Loving what you do
Filed Under Love | 4 Comments
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer
This is the last post about the inner game of distinguishing yourself. The next posts about distinguishing yourself will focus on the outer game. According to Rajesh Setty the last step of the inner game is about love. Within this step of exploring ones inner self consider that passion rules. Problems arise so that heroes may overcome them. Remember of course that Success=Love what you do and Do what is required.
The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. – Allan K. Chalmers
The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure. - Francoise de Motteville
Technorati Tags: love, happiness, loving what you do, success, distinguishing yourself, inner game, passion
