How to Spot Workaholic Warning Signs

Being a workaholic means excessively and compulsively working to reduce anxiety or ward off feelings of failure.[1] A workaholic may turn to work as a way to cope with stress, escape other problems, or validate their worth through their work. If you wonder if you might be a workaholic, look at how you spend your time and what habits you maintain. Notice how work has affected your family life, relationships with friends, and your health. If you are a workaholic, take some steps back from work and re-engage with relationships and healthy living.

Part 1 - Examining How You Spend Your Time

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→ Examine your schedule. If you’re the first to arrive and the last to leave, this can indicate workaholic tendencies. Look around for who else in the office shares your hours or if you consistently work the most of all the employees.

→ For example, your workplace may expect employees to work 40 hours each week, yet you may often exceed these hours week after week.

→ Try keeping a log for a few weeks of when you arrive at work and when you leave. You may be working more than you thought you were.

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→ Observe stress levels when away from work. If you’re prohibited from working for some reason, this might make you feel stressed. For example, if you go away on vacation, you may feel stressed being away from your workplace and feel like you’re missing out on getting things done. Or, you might become upset when the power goes off or the network goes down during the workday. If you feel stressed when you cannot work, this can be a sign of being a workaholic.

→ If you forget to bring your laptop home with you one night to finish your work, this may cause extreme stress.

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→ Notice when you make more time for work. You might wonder how you can spend more time at work. This might be going in earlier in the mornings, or cutting certain after-work activities so that you can stay later. While some people make adjustments to their schedules occasionally, the workaholic may spend more time at work when it is unnecessary or even discouraged.

→ For example, you may think, “If I cut out my morning exercise, I can start work 30 minutes early.”

→ Think about whether you have been cutting back on other activities in favor of work, such as your interests, hobbies, or certain responsibilities.

→ Cutting out time with family and friends to make more time for work is especially detrimental. If you are willing to sacrifice your relationships, then this is a red flag.

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→ Consider when you work. You may turn to work on weekends, during vacations, or while you’re in bed. If you fill your free time with work, this can be a symptom. You may go away for the weekend and debate taking your work or feel negligent not doing work in your free time.

→ If you make time for other activities yet feel anxious being away from your work, this can be a sign of being a workaholic.

Part 2 - Reflecting on Your Work Habits

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→ Listen to feedback. Your friends, family, and co-workers may notice your long hours and say something to you, yet you might blow it off or ignore what they say. You may shrug the comments off or become defensive. If multiple people comment on your work habits, it might be time to listen in and be open to their feedback.

→ For example, your manager may say, “You’re working a lot, yet other people are on the team, too. Why don’t you cut back?” Yet, you may not be able to comprehend how to cut back or you may completely ignore the comment.

→ If your partner or children express their displeasure with how much you work, take it very seriously.

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→ Consider when you take on extra work. You may sign up for projects or assignments when it’s unnecessary. You may think that no one else can do it or will do it, so you will take it on. Perhaps you believe yourself to be the only one capable of heading projects or completing tasks, so you do them out of perceived necessity.

→ For example, you might take on multiple presentations because you believe your co-workers are less capable of making sales pitches than you are, so you do all of them.

→ Think about whether your decision to take on extra work is need-based, ego-based, or desire-based. Try to only take on extra work that is need-based.

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→ Notice if you’re working through meals. A workaholic may read or do work during meals. This might include doing work during your lunch break while at your workplace or taking materials home and working during dinner. You might expect to work through meals or feel agitated or bored if you eat a meal without work in front of you.

→ Perhaps you count on having work with you through meals and often turn down invitations to meet for lunch or dinner due to work.

Part 3 - Assessing the Negative Effects of Work

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→ Notice any changes to your health. Workaholics may experience declines in their health due to overworking. The negative influence of work can affect your health in ways that may require medical intervention. Particularly if your job is very stressful, overworking can affect your health through heart problems, poor circulation, high cholesterol, poor sleep, low energy levels, and depression.

→ If you’ve noticed major declines in your health since working longer hours, this may be an indication that you’re overworking.

→ Signs of depression may include sadness, irritability, trouble focusing or remembering things, intrusive negative thoughts, and thoughts of suicide or death.

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→ Examine how you deal with emotions. You may turn to work as a way to cope with feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, or depression. If you tend to cope with your feelings by putting in more work or spending more time at your workplace, this can be an unhealthy way of coping and contribute to being a workaholic.

→ Do you tend to work longer hours when you feel stressed or overwhelmed in another part of your life? One way to test this is to clear your schedule for a while and see if your anxieties about other things become more intense.

→ Consider dealing with emotions by seeing a therapist, engaging in exercise, starting a meditation program, or writing in a journal.

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→ Consider problems in relationships. Your work habits may negatively affect your relationships with others, including a spouse or partner, children, family, and friends. Perhaps you previously were involved in regular events with your family, yet now spend little time with them due to work. Your friends and family may comment that they rarely see you or spend time with you because of work. Your working habits may cause tension in relationships.

→ You may also feel emotionally disconnected or like you are out of the loop regarding your family members.

→ A workaholic may look forward to work more than family activities or events. Perhaps you plan a meeting or work event during a time you know your family is getting together.