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January 11, 2010

The Mindset of a Workaholic Can Dismantle Family Life

Jill Fehrenbacher

CEO, Founder, Inhabitat

Summary

We've all probably grappled on some level with the age-old issue of maintaining a healthy work/life balance -- especially given the relative

We've all probably grappled on some level with the age-old issue of maintaining a healthy work/life balance -- especially given the relatively recent boom of PDA's which keep people at the mercy of emails and phone calls no matter how far away they are from the office. But for some, the line between a professional and personal life is a deep shade of gray, plagued by ambiguity which casts a dark cloud over their entire existence. Workaholics are mired in a mindset in which being on the job is the only source of fulfillment -- and they suffer alongside neglected family members.

Workaholics Anonymous offers support, guidance and meetings for those who can't turn off their need to work, displaying characteristics of a workaholic such as, "We tend to schedule ourselves for more than we can handle, believing people will like us more if we can do more and do it faster." The Workaholics Anonymous website also offers a list of twenty questions to answer to help gauge whether or not you're a workaholic.

Reading these twenty questions was a real eye-opener for me, personally, as I definitely recognized myself in more than three of them.  I'm guessing that in the world of bloggers and media entrepreneurs I am certainly not alone in my workaholic tendencies. 

According to a recent article on workaholism on Forbes.com, "Marriages involving workaholics are twice as likely to end in divorce... [and] for too many, the pressure of the economic downturn only exacerbates the problem."

In the same article, Bryan Robinson, author of Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them adds, "The workaholic is on the ski slopes dreaming about getting back to work... the hard worker is in the office dreaming about being on the ski slopes." Robinson concludes that mindset, as opposed to hours spent on the job is what matters when it comes to defining a workaholic.

Surviving a Workaholic Spouse on Forbes.com offers 10 tips on how to cope with being married to someone who is also married to their job. From 'Stop Helping' -- by enabling your spouse with the space and time he/she needs to accomplish work tasks while say, seated at the dinner table, to 'Find Mutual Hobbies' and 'Schedule Tech Free Time,' the list offers a great start at establishing boundaries between life on the job and life on the home front -- a healthy brush-up everyone with an occupation in today's modern society could use -- perhaps to turn over a new leaf in 2010.