Why do people fall into workaholism? I break down three causes using my own life as the example — from an inherited work ethic to escaping reality.
Why do people fall into workaholism?
I started thinking about it using my own life as the example.
Today I: spent two hours in the morning analysing content from abroad, ran four consultations, gave a phone comment live on Ukrainian Radio, ordered new equipment for the studio, picked the dates for new courses, signed off the videos for my social media, and did a pile of other work.
Often, when I start working a lot, I pause and ask myself: “Am I even on the right path?” Because when something works, you just repeat the same action many times over a long stretch. On autopilot.
It seems to me that workaholism has three main causes.
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It’s the work ethic we were raised with, and we work a lot because that’s simply the style of our life.
Often we’re doing a lot of ineffective things at the same time and, in the big picture, spinning our wheels at the same level — but because we’re constantly moving somewhere, it feels like things aren’t bad.
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Workaholism can be a form of escaping reality. When I don’t love my life, when my family relationships are bad, or when I’m doing work I don’t enjoy, burying myself in work and being permanently busy is a particular way of running from other problems.
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Workaholism can be a necessary condition before you step up to a new level. Like serious preparation for a sports competition: you spend thousands of hours training in the gym and only a couple of hours on stage in front of the judges.
Naturally, I’d like to think that my tendency to work a lot is the result of healthy ambition and a desire to reach new results.
But whether that’s actually true, time will tell.
For now I’m simply observing my own state, and I can say I feel my workload is an 8 out of 10. I’m working close to the limit of my capacity.
And do you work a lot? On a scale of 1 to 10, how heavy does your load feel?
It is rarely a lack of knowledge
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