Happy Labor Day everyone!

As we honor the American labor movement and the workers who have contributed to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country, pause and ask yourself:

• How much are you working to live vs. living to work?

• How much is your identity wrapped up in work?

• When was the last time you took time off from your job?

• If you were to be laid off, how full and satisfying would your life still be?

If you’re feeling discomfort thinking about these questions, your answers are uncomfortably surprising you, or you’re feeling the heebie jeebies just thinking about the last question, then it’s time to acknowledge you may be a work addict (i.e. workaholic).

Work serves a purpose, it feeds you and your family, clothes them, puts a roof over their head, and like anything, too much of it and it starts to be a:

• Crutch to your development 

• Way of numbing out from feeling uncomfortable emotions

• Form of self-medication

In other words, rather than dealing with the root cause of the issue, work is used to soothe the symptoms.  

If none of this resonates, great, work has a healthy place in your life.   If however it very much resonates, here are five things you can do to start to recover from being a workaholic:

1. Draw boundaries, decide how much time you you will give work each week, how long of a lunch break you will take for yourself, and stick to your commitment 

2. Work with a therapist to identify root cause of the work addiction if it’s unclear why you’ve been a workaholic.  As with anything, until the root cause of the issue is addressed, it will continue to reoccur, and root cause definitely lies somewhere in your past.

3. Find an accountability partner to help you honor your boundaries commitment to yourself, whether it’s a friend, a family member, the therapist, or a coach.  Share how hard this transition is for you and how they can help you honor yourself.  

4. Identify what is missing or has been neglected in your life.  There is a whole world out there, and while you’ve been giving work all your attention, how is your family, friendships, health, spirituality, fun / relaxation, and other areas of your life doing?

5. Develop and build up the other areas of your life that you want to have a healthy place in your world.  Provided you honor your boundaries commitment to yourself, this will free up the time to focus on these other aspects of your life.  

As change agents and leaders, we frequently have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, and if this responsibility turns into a work addiction, as with any addiction, it leaves you feeling little enjoyment and unhappy.  So the next time you feel yourself being pulled into your work addiction, remember:

• Work isn’t going to love you back if you go through a hard time in your life as many have found out during this pandemic 

• It isn’t going to be there for you in retirement

• No one ever says they wish they would have worked more on their death bed

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About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.