Checklist: 9 Signs That You Work Too Much
alexander savina
Last week, Japanese broadcaster NHK published the results of the investigation of the death of his journalist Miva Sado. Investigators concluded that the woman died of congestion: in that month she worked for 159 hours above the norm. In Japanese, for death in the workplace, there is even a special term - "karos". In Russia, things are better, but the love of processing is also encouraged - and although we all understand that workaholism, like any dependency, is dangerous, many people still think that working for wear and tear is the only possible option. We tell how to understand that you work too much and it's time to take action.
1
You check your work email in the evening and on weekends.
A sure sign that you are working more than you should be is the habit of checking work mail during non-working hours: in the evenings, early in the morning, on weekends and on vacation. Because of smartphones, it is becoming more and more difficult for us to completely disconnect from the workflow: a message with an urgent issue in the messenger can come at least at six in the morning, at least at one in the morning. Of course, everyone has emergency situations when we are waiting for an important letter and have to check email every five minutes. But if you can not spend the evening without seeing whether new messages have come to you, it’s unlikely that your work and personal life are balanced. Remember the common phrase more often: a good worker is a rested worker.
2
You speak and think only about work
We all happened in situations where it was impossible to think about anything other than work: closing the quarter, a sleepless night before handing over the project, a sharply shifted deadline and further down the list. It’s another thing if you find it difficult in principle to disconnect from the flow of affairs, even when there are no urgent tasks, and anxiety due to specific problems goes into the category of obsessive thoughts. It often seems to us that the more hours we spend at work, the more effectively we cope with affairs, but this is not so: from time to time it is useful to “switch off” to look at the solution of the problem with a fresh look.
3
You can't stop
A sure sign of any dependence, including dependence on work: it takes you more time than you planned. If you think every night that you’ll linger for some five minutes after work to quickly finish one important thing, but in the end you spend another hour and a half in the office - this is a reason to at least reconsider your habits and daily routines. If you regularly feel bad due to the fact that you allegedly “did little work”, and you often think that you are not doing enough, although circumstances do not require such commitment, this is even more alarming.
4
Your self-esteem is highly dependent on career success.
Workaholism is often associated with low self-esteem: those who are addicted to work dependency think they will feel better if they work more and show an incredible result. Of course, this does not mean that you don’t have to strive for career success - it’s just important to understand that not only success or failure determines you, but generally the qualities that you demonstrate in your work are only part of who you are. And certainly the value of your personality is not measured in bonuses - and the number of hours worked.
5
Your interests are limited to work.
For many, a career takes the first place in the list of priorities - and this is a legitimate choice just like any other. However, it is difficult to imagine a person who has absolutely no other tasks and hobbies in life - after all, few people physically manage to work 24/7 without rest. There are even more reasons to think if work is far from the only thing that interests you in life, but you do not understand at all what to do besides it in your free time, or if when you try to stop and relax, you are covered with panic.
6
It's hard for you to delegate tasks
The surest way to get bogged down in an endless stream of tasks is the inability to delegate things that can be given to someone else. If it is so important for you to control the process, that you cannot even think about working with someone in a team, if you are sure that you will do everything faster and better yourself than you will explain something to others, you should take a closer look - and not do you take on too much? It is possible that the result will be better if you share the process with someone.
7
You put the work case above personal
It’s not about lying like in school that you’re sick and going to the cinema on Monday afternoon - after all, for those who don’t like sitting in the office from nine to six, there is always the option of flexible schedule and freelancing . Another thing is if the work began to seriously interfere with your personal life: instead of going to a party in the evening, visiting your parents or having coffee with a friend, you consistently choose to spend a few more hours at the office desk; and relatives complain that the work takes all your time. If you free up time not for rest, but in order to work more, you should think carefully about your schedule.
8
Work harms your health
For all the importance of work, it should not affect the quality of life. A very serious sign that you are working clearly more than the cost, the habit of neglecting health. Symptoms can be different: someone has a tremendous sense of guilt for having to go to the doctor during working hours, no matter how serious the problem is, it is embarrassing for someone to take sick leave at a high temperature, someone realizes that it would be worth doing sports and get enough sleep, but day after day can not make time for it. This also includes the addiction to eat dinner, not looking up from the monitor, or forget about food altogether.
9
You are ashamed to go on vacation
In many companies, workers do not have the opportunity to go on vacation for more than two weeks in a row - and sometimes, in principle, to purge all of the required four weeks. Nevertheless, it may be difficult for some to afford such a short rest: if you feel guilty for not controlling work processes right now, and worry that you are supposedly shirking work, although you have a legal right to rest - perhaps more serious than it seems.
Photo:jeep5d - stock.adobe.com, Uros Petrovic - stock.adobe.com