The following questions strike at the heart of the balance issue.
What good is a high powered career if it makes you miserable?
What good is owning a beautiful house if you’re never home?
What good is a passionate hobby if you have no time to pursue it?
Check items that sound all too familiar. Add others that are unique to you. When it comes to work, I’ve been known to:
___Skip meals or eat lunch at my desk
___Avoid working out due to long commute or not enough time
___Cancel personal plans
___Reschedule medical appointments
___Be absent from children’s activities, sports events, etc.
___Ignore or not be aware of neighborhood or community activities
___Say yes to another project when my plate is already full
___Worry that I’m not doing enough
___Go to the office on weekends
___Catch up by coming in early or staying after hours
___Cancel personal engagements
___Take work home
___Take and make calls at home due to work related matters
___Attend after work meetings
___Stay awake worrying about work projects
___Wake up during the night worried about work matters
___Jot notes/reminders about work on a nightstand
___Talk consistently about work related issues at home
___Decline social gatherings because of work priorities
___Juggle two telephones simultaneously to “get more done”
ADD YOUR OWN
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Now, review the list again and, identify which items, if you took action, would bring
about better work balance for you. Here are some examples :
Stop taking work home as a habit. Ask yourself “Is it urgent and important now?”
Enlist a trusted colleague to help you break a “workaholic” habit.
Leave work on time. Ask yourself “Is staying necessary? Why am I doing this?”
Identify what must be accomplished and leave when its done.
Plan a stop after work that will revive you (walk, shop, work out, visit a friend, etc.).
Remind yourself that you need and deserve rest and relaxation.
Find a way to include ½ hour of exercise in your work day (ex: walk at lunch, download an exercise tape to an ipod, learn chair exercises and do them during the day).
Plan to take breaks with the funniest person at your worksite.
Keep going…make your list your own.
PERSONALIZED WELLNESS PRESCRIPTION
Create your own wellness prescription using some ideas mentioned above and add more that are uniquely you. There’s no time like the present to start. Get a coach if it will help.
Let us know what you’ve done to “kick the workaholic habit.” We’d like to hear your story. Or tell us how you maintain balance between work and play during the workweek.
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“People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged, sooner or later, to find time for illness.”
-John Wanamaker
