Are you a workaholic? This can be either good or bad

Are you considered a workaholic? This can be either good or bad. Most people who know me consider me a workaholic since I train and blog a lot. Well, my main focus is on MMA but I can’t train 17 hours a day. I’m obsessed with it so it’s safe to say that I’m driven. Some people respect this but others don’t seem to get it. They claim that I’m wasting my time. It’s all a matter of perspective since those are mostly the people who’re bored 24/7. They’re constantly looking for a person to entertain them and that’s a selfish act. I don’t get that people can be bored, to be honest.

I get that you want to be lazy since people are designed to be lazy. Most people are looking for the easy way out and they aren’t workaholics. They all claim that they work hard and repeat it multiple times a day. Can you guess why they’re doing it? They’re convincing themselves that they work hard. They ease their mind and they even believe it after a while. The human brain is intriguing that’s for sure.

Recently someone told me that I’m a workaholic in his opinion. He just couldn’t figure out why I never claimed that I work hard. Or at least not that much as most people do. The answer is pretty simple. I don’t have to convince myself that I work hard. But I know that I work hard, I just don’t consider it as work. I love what I do and do what I love.

I also want to become a better version of myself so I compete against myself every single day. There are 5 signs that you’re a workaholic according to Forbes but they didn’t include why you’re one (read the 5 sings and their explanation here). I’ll explain later in this article why some workaholics get burnouts and others don’t.

The 5 signs are

1. You work longer than your colleagues
2. You can’t turn off
3. Your body feels unwell
4. Your relationships are strained
5. You tie your worth to your work success

I’m not a workaholic and here’s why

I work a lot more than 99% of the people and I can’t turn off that’s true but I don’t do the last 3. My body feels great since I take care of it. 11 pm means bedtime and 6 am means that it’s time to rise. My relationships aren’t strained, I’m just an introvert so I don’t need to be around people that often. I still try to see family and friends. I can do what I want to do and see them on the same day. It’s all about working smart instead of working way too hard. The last sign is just a sign that you’ve got issues. Now it’s time to see if you’re a good or bad workaholic.

Are you a workaholic? It’s going to get good, bad and ugly

Remember the blog where I wrote that some people try to escape their reality by watching reality shows? Some people don’t watch these shows since they try to escape by working a lot. Do you get why I told you that it was going to get ugly? Some people stay late in the office because they don’t want to go home. This can have multiple reasons. Some people are still single and don’t want to be alone. Others don’t want to go back to their crapy relationship/marriage. These people are on the highway to burnout and make no mistake the burn out will come.

You can’t escape the inevitable. Others get depressed, become alcoholics or drug addicts and so on. Some people seem to hang in for a pretty long time and there’s a good reason for it…

Why some workaholics can escape the inevitable burn out for a long time

It’s because they always go on a holiday as soon as they’re about to hit rock bottom. They recharge the batteries and go back to work but this can’t keep on happening. There will be a point where it will be too late. A burn out isn’t fun I can guarantee you that one.  Others pop tons of pills or drink tons of energy drinks to make sure that they can keep doing what they’re doing. Let me share you some simple principles:

1. eat when you’re hungry but not when you’re bored or stressed. Stress eating will make you fat.
2. drink when you’re thirsty instead of measuring your water intake
3. last but not least. Rest when you’re feeling exhausted. There’s no point in working till you drop dead.

The saddest part about this whole story is that they don’t even like their job. Most of them hate it but can’t do anything about it. They are afraid to leave their precious comfort zone.

So what about the people tie their worth to their work success?

These people are suffering from low self-esteem. You should be proud of the fact that you work hard because there’s nothing to be proud of when you’re a lazy bum. You should be proud of who you are and not what you achieve. You’ll achieve a lot when you’re trying to be the best version of yourself. You spot low self-esteem from a mile away. You can have all the stuff that you want, you can achieve a lot in your job but you can’t buy self-esteem. It’s just visible in people’s eyes. Their’s nowhere to hide, not even in your million dollar mansion.

So what did we learn? Be yourself since most people can’t do it. They’re afraid to show the real them to the world. There’s no better feeling and no bigger achievement than being true to you. 

So what about the people who’re good workaholics

Some people want to be extremely productive in every second that they’re alone. They just realize that you should spend time with friends, family, girlfriend/wife. Those moments are the cooldown moments. So sure I will hang out with friends but I won’t skip practice for it. My blogpost will be written before I meet them. It’s all about priorities and most people their priority is sleeping all day and partying all night. Those people act surprised when they don’t achieve a single thing in life.

Hanging late in every bar won’t turn you into a rockstar.

[ctt template=”8″ link=”3Moxe” via=”no” ]Hanging late in every bar won’t turn you into a rockstar.[/ctt]

The process is a lot more addictive than the result. But that’s something for an upcoming blog post.

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Till next time

Alex

 

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