Jamie Ceaser doesn’t sleep much.
How can she with five projects going on at one time–and always another project in the works?
“I’m like the plate spinner on the Ed Sullivan Show with all the [plates] going in the air at once,” said Ceaser, an independent producer in Chicago.
Between starting her own production company, teaching a class, working on a documentary, doing jobs for local museums and news shows, and trying to sell TV shows, she’s beyond busy.
The reality of such a workload isn’t always fun.
“There were Christmas parties I couldn’t go to because I had an edit to do, and social things I couldn’t go to because I had to work and sometimes it upsets me, but you gotta do what you gotta do,” she said.
But Ceaser said she’d keep up her frenetic work pace even if she hit the jackpot. “Historically, I’m a workaholic,” she said. “I like what I do. It really makes me thrive. I know people who get an adrenaline rush from relationships. I get a rush from work.”
Sound familiar?
Chances are, you or someone you know is a workaholic–a person who lives and breathes work whether they’re at the office or not. But when work becomes the sum total of a person’s existence, everything else–family, friends, even vacation–can be shut out. And that’s a problem, experts say.
The number of hours Americans work has increased in the last decade, to the point that America is catching up with Japan as the world’s hardest-working nation, according to Dean McFarlin, professor of management at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that Americans worked an average of 49 hours a week in 1999, and experts say that the numbers are going up–especially among over-burdened workers in today’s down economy.
“People are nervous. Today, it’s more likely that you’re going to [put in extra hours] on your own to preserve your job than you would have three years ago,” said McFarlin, adding that round-the-clock working also has become the norm in a global economy.
The technological revolution also has made workaholism seductively easy. Between cell phones, personal digital assistants and the Internet, there is no such thing as “time off.” Combine all these factors with an achievement-oriented society, and you have a recipe for workaholism.
But as more Americans refuse to define success as financial achievement alone, workaholics stand out as being unbalanced.
“It’s very difficult to work and work and work and also build close and loving relationships,” said John Drake, author of “Downshifting: How To Work Less and Enjoy Life More” (Berrett-Koehler, $15.95). “You’re paying a price for it, and when all is said and done, you’re missing out on what’s really important in life.”
From a psychological perspective, workaholism is a form of obsession.
“If one is obsessively focused on work and always driven by that to the exclusion of other things, that’s probably extremely unhealthy,” said Robert Mark, a clinical psychologist and corporate consultant in Chicago. “I suspect that workaholics, the ones who are success-driven, are really looking for a sense of power or control and they do it out of fear that if they didn’t do this, what would happen to them?”
Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way.
“Some people who are very successful have wonderful communities and great [relationships with their] families, so it’s not a requirement that in order to be successful, [people have to deny themselves] other arenas in life,” Mark said.
And the effects of workaholism can be dangerous. Recent studies have shown that the stress from working too hard is damaging to a person’s health.
“A period of stress that lasts for a few hours is not a problem. However, high levels of chronic stress can impair health through several pathways,” said Bruce Rabin, medical director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Healthy Lifestyle Program.
Workaholics may be at increased risk for heart disease and stroke, said Rabin, author of “Stress, Immune Function and Health: The Connection” (John Wiley & Sons, $99.95).
And not surprisingly, it’s not just workaholics who suffer. Families do too.
“I was working terrible hours and the worst of it was the constant travel,” said Drake, who founded and was CEO of Drake Beam & Associates (now Drake Beam Morin Inc.), one of the nation’s largest human-resource firms. “It bothered me more than anything that I was missing out on family life and my children. I knew something was wrong. My whole value system was wrong because I was very successful but I was failing in life.”
But workaholism can be manageable, Drake says. In “Downshifting,” he suggests a range of options for carving out more time–everything from not scheduling lunch meetings to choosing to work only three days a week.
Chicagoan Rochelle Kopp, 38, who runs Japan Intercultural Consulting, which helps Americans and Japanese work together more effectively, has recently made downshifting a priority.
When she first started her firm nearly nine years ago, she admitted that she worked “all day and night,” estimating that she clocked in 80 hours a week. She’s now working between 50 and 60 hours a week–which she admits is still high–but she’s made some significant changes. She has cut down on her travel, from 134 days in 2000 to 54 in 2002. And she feels more comfortable in delegating tasks to co-workers.
Recently, Kopp even did something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago: She took time off on a Friday afternoon to get her nails done.
In addition to controlling work hours, it’s also important to learn how to unwind in your downtime, experts say.
“After work people lay on the couch and watch TV and eat fatty foods. That is not a cool-down,” Rabin said.
Instead, people should find an outlet–such as listening to music or reading a book–that doesn’t have a negative impact on their health, he said.
“It’s really the approach, not just that you’re working a lot of hours,” Rabin explained.
To reduce stress, the Healthy Lifestyles program he directs teaches people how to deep-breathe and meditate, as well as the importance of social interaction, optimism, spirituality and physical activity.
Learning more life balance actually can help a person be more productive at work, according to Rabin.
“One of the fears people have is if they do [these exercises] they won’t have time to get things done. But people who take 10 to 15 minutes a day to do them actually create more time because they are more efficient and focused,” he said.
Are you addicted to work?
Working hard does not a workaholic make. But if you answer “yes” to three or more of the following questions, you may be on your way to becoming one. Take the following quiz to see if you show signs of being addicted to your job:
– Do you get more excited about work than your family or anything else?
– Do you take work to bed? On weekends? On vacation?
– Is work the activity you like to do best and talk about most?
– Have your family or friends given up expecting you on time?
– Do you take on extra work because you are concerned that it won’t otherwise get done?
– Do you believe that it is OK to work long hours if you love what you do?
– Do you get impatient with people who have other priorities besides work?
– Have your long hours hurt your family or other relationships?
– Are you afraid that if you don’t work hard, you’ll lose your job or be a failure?
– Do you work more than 40 hours a week?
Source: Workaholics Anonymous
