How to Manage Family and Business: Don’t Be a Workaholic
Grant Kelley, a veteran businessman from Australia has been interviewed in a podcast years before about his take on how to manage a business and personal life. His advice was as simple as it gets: Don’t be a workaholic. These are words coming from a seasoned CEO who deep-dived into the global scene with his expertise in finance and fund management.
Being busy is not new to the business tycoon as he has more than 30 years of experience as head of different companies both locally and abroad.
He spearheaded several strategic initiatives as the CEO of Vicinity Centres. Grant Kelley has just retired from this position but his legacy remains with the company moving forward with its new CEO.
What is a workaholic?
Workaholics are people who have an irresistible urge to work even when they don’t need to. It differs from a hard worker who has a specific goal in line with their actions, It is also not comparable to an overworked person where the pressure to continue working usually comes from outside factors.
It is a legitimate addiction to working and needs much effort to overcome. Being a workaholic can do damage to one’s well-being, especially to their mental state.
Telltale Signs of Being a Workaholic
There are a few signs that you can notice to easily recognize if you’re becoming a workaholic or already one. There is a need for a level of self-awareness so this problem gets addressed immediately. Spending too much work can disrupt your life in general and have irreversible damage both to you and the people around you.
Work Unnecessarily
You spend more time at work than what is normal and needed. You prioritize going to work over important events for families and friends. To give a better idea of how much is too much, The WHO (World Health Association) deems 55 hours of work a week can cause negative effects on your health. That’s equal to having an 8-5 job plus 3 hours of overtime every weekday. If you are willingly doing that much when your work allows you not to, that can be a cause for concern.
Bringing Home Work
Today’s work trends give a lot of preference to work-from-home setups but that is different from taking your job outside your work area. Taking home a few documents or papers to review can easily take up 3 hours of the time you’re supposed to spend as free time and that 3 hours is the same as basically doing overtime.
Working Becomes Solution to Negative Emotions
When working is the only activity that makes you happy or it becomes your go-to relief from negative emotions, that is no longer healthy. The behavior becomes a pattern and becomes harder to break. The negative emotions you are running away from may need to be faced head-on. Treating your work as an escape can cause relief but it does nothing to solve the root of the problem. It’s important to create a work-life balance.
Aim for sustainability
Do you remember when you last took a break? It doesn’t have to be a vacation or a month-long holiday. Sometimes the remedy can be simply taking the time to make plans over the weekends with a friend. A Work-life balance is something you need to work on. Great performance creates an impact but performance sustainability is what gets you on top in the long run.