As part of the PF community – no matter whether you are a fellow PF or debt blogger, or a blog stalker reader – we are all working toward one form or another of financial independence. Many of us are so dedicated to making our financial dreams come true that we are even willing to take on additional work above and beyond our full-time jobs either in the form of a part-time job, or a side hustle (and some of the craziest most dedicated among us are even doing both).
While I’m all for taking on extra work to help me pay off my debts and reach my savings goals faster, there are some people out there (ahem, Mom and Dad) who think I’ve become a workaholic (and they’re probably right).
Just to help you out with determining if you are a workaholic, here a few signs of workaholism (Is that even a word? Well, we’re gonna go with it.):
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- You might be a workaholic if you are the first in and last out. If you are the first one in to your office (or to the blogosphere) and the last one leave, you must be a dedicated person. There’s nothing wrong with being dedicated to your job (or your side hustles), but if this happens everyday you are a workaholic.
- You might be a workaholic if you work (or blog) during your lunch hour and other breaks. I am so guilty of this one. ‘Nuff said.
- You might be a workaholic if you take work to bed. Your bedroom should be the place you go to relax and unwind. Avoid taking your laptop or work related reading material into your bedroom. You should also avoiding keeping your smart phone right next to the bed where you can easily be interrupted by incoming work-related calls and emails.
- You might be a workaholic if you don’t talk about anything besides work when you’re not working.
- You might be a workaholic if you can’t even escape thinking about work while you sleep. It has invaded your dreams and turned them into vivid nightmares.
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If any of these sound like you, you might be a workaholic. But don’t worry, there is a cure for workaholism. Here are a couple of things you can do to help with your work-life balance:
- Leave work at work. Don’t bring work home with you and when you are on your own time, don’t respond to emails or work-related calls unless absolutely necessary. Make a conscious effort to be in the here and now with friends and family. If you are a freelancer, decide what time you will be done working each evening. If you decide your cutoff time is 9 pm, do not check your email or anything blog related after 0.
- Set priorities. Start off each day with a list of the 5 most important things you must get done that day. Do not work on anything else until those 5 (or however many you decide) things are done. After those 5 things are done, and if you have more work time left, you can start on other things. If there’s no work time left, shut off your computer and your work-brain. Your work day is done.
- Draw a line. Decide how much work you can realistically take on and once you hit that threshold, don’t accept any more/new jobs. Yes, we could all use the extra money, but you have to draw a line somewhere. No one can work 24 hours a day, no matter how much more income they’d make.
Are you a workaholic?
