In today’s highly competitive business environment, working constantly until you feel exhausted and burned out seems to have become the norm. If this is how you approach your work, you might be a workaholic, and that might be more of a problem than you first think. Our society has taught us that working hard and long hours can guarantee success. Unfortunately, that's not strictly true, and being a workaholic can be detrimental to both your social and private life.
So how can someone who cannot stop working set about kicking the habit? Eleven experts from Forbes Coaches Council share some useful tips about how a workaholic can break the mental chains that keep them shackled to their job for long hours.
Members offer their best advice for self-described workaholics to better manage their work-life balance.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Invest In Yourself First
Resilience is key. Top performers know that they need to invest in themselves first. When you are at your best, you are better able to think, communicate, execute and perform. When you are at your best you are also better able to lead others and provide an example of what excellence looks like in action. Have only three priorities each day, and take the remainder and delegate, eliminate and automate. - Kimberly Svoboda, Aspiration Catalyst
2. Get Clear On Priorities
Get clear on priorities. It's tempting to say "yes" to everything, but to focus your attention in the right place, remind yourself every day of what is truly most important. Reflect on what is essential in your work to the top three most important priorities. Align your actions toward your priorities by using the urgent vs. important matrix — it will have a huge impact on your productivity. - Rupinder Kaur, Asian Women MEAN Business
3. Make Sure You Get Enough Rest
I had the pleasure to work with an Olympic athlete and what I learned was significant though very profound: in sports, nobody would even think about doing workouts — regardless of discipline — 10 or 12 hours a day, six days a week. No! Top athletes are where they are because they value rest as much as high-performance work! So why do business people think their body works differently? It doesn't! - Michaela Lindinger, brain in spa
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4. Consider The Big Picture
Going fast is characteristic of super achievers — not executive leaders. It's a dangerous trap. Leaders need to take the time to consider the big picture and the many complexities of the situation. Leaders create and design systems to solve problems and inspire people to do their best work. Busyness is a warning sign that an organization's leaders need to stop and reconsider. - Bill Koch, Bill Koch Leadership Coaching
5. Work Smarter, Not Harder
A mentor once told me that she never saw written on a headstone, “I wish I had worked longer and harder.” Staying competitive doesn’t equal working harder. It actually equals a sustainable strategy and focus to accomplish balance in all facets of life. You’ll increase your effectiveness and your advantage by accessing higher levels of energy to compete stronger and successfully. - Sheila Carmichael, Transitions D2D, LLC
6. Evaluate The Impact Of Your Work
Evaluate the impact of all the work you do. Skip items and tasks that have no impact and ask yourself, “Is my behavior in this moment the greatest contribution I can make to the effectiveness of my work, of this collaboration?" This is building awareness. Think twice or three times about it. - Cristian Hofmann, Empowering Executives | SUPERGROUP LTD
7. Find The Motivation To Slow Down
Let’s be clear: workaholics don’t see the problem. If they see, they don’t know how to stop. To transform their attitude, they need to have a great reason to do so. My suggestion is to find the motivation. Since we are gregarious beings, my clients usually shift their mindset after realizing what prize people around them pay for their working habits. Do you want to be the reason for such a burden? - Inga Bielińska, Inga Arianna Bielinska Coaching Consulting Mentoring
8. Focus On Useful Work
Quality isn't just about volume. It's about business relevance. Determine what actions are most useful to deliver on your unit's or team's strategic objectives. Validate your thinking against stakeholder knowing. Forget what you think is important. Map your actions to what's critically important for business growth. Focusing on what's useful eliminates 80% of what's not. - Jay Steven Levin, WinThinking
9. Distribute Work More Effectively
Working constantly is a sign that one is not distributing work effectively. For each task on your to-do list, budget the time to do it well, aggregate those times, divide them on the number of hours you plan to work on a particular day (in light of other non-work obligations or needs), list in order of priority, and set aside time for emergencies and tasks that could be postponed as a result. Go. - Samara Hakim, CulturGrit
10. Prioritize Your Health
You draw the line when hard work starts to impact your health. I once went 20 weeks without a day off, with mostly 16-hour days. I was fit, but my resting pulse was at 120 when I finally took a week off. Never ever let it come to that. Give up free time, hobbies, relationships if you must — but draw the line at physical exhaustion. Success takes sacrifice, but your health is your future. - Tom Kolditz, Doerr Institute for New Leaders
11. Invest Energy Outside Of Work
Hustlers are typically crystal-clear on only their professional and financial goals, putting them at risk of burnout and/or allowing others to control their future. Instead, become a sustained elite performer by investing energy outside of your work! This may feel counterintuitive, but new experiences, new environments and new people breathe energy and creativity back into your work. - Colleen Hauk, Balance Point Coaching
