Working for a Workaholic: 10 Tips to Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance (Infographic)
- 3 min read
Emily Bonnie
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How to Figure Out If You're a Workaholic (Infographic)
Are you always working late into the night? Or pushing yourself to work hard because you want constant recognition by coworkers? Is it all to the detriment of your personal relationships? If so, you just might be a workaholic. Psychology Today calls workaholism "a soul-destroying addiction that changes people's personality and the values they live by." Here at Wrike, we call it the disease of the "working dead." Because we don't want you to roam the office hallways with carpal tunnel syndrome, glassy eyes, and moaning "brainsss," we put together this quick quiz to help you discover if you are on the road to becoming a workaholic. Find out now, and pump the breaks if you're going down the wrong path! Share this infographic quiz with your coworkers who are teetering on the edge of workaholism. And use this embed code if you want to share it on your blog: Infographic brought to you by Wrike If you prefer not to manually total your score, then take our interactive version of the quiz to get your results quickly: Working Too Hard? Maybe You Just Need Lunch If you feel you're on track to becoming a full-fledged workaholic, you may want to take one small step toward making a change in your life. Here's one tip: actually use your lunch hour. And no, eating at your desk doesn't count (we're onto you!) Go out, grab a bite, enjoy a walk, and don't check your work messages for a solid 20-30 minutes. Workaholic instincts making you wary of stepping away from your desk for that long? This blog post explains why you need to give yourself a real break during the workday: 7 Reasons to Bring Back the Lunch Break.
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Productivity
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7 Time-Savers for the Overworked [Infographic]
Despite the global quest for work-life balance, many people still regularly work over the weekend and don't use all of their vacation days. This in turn causes them to be overwhelmed, overworked and laboring in overtime... If you dream about a 25th hour in the day to be fully productive and dedicate some time for yourself, we've got something for you. Since having an extra hour in the day is still impossible, we decided to give you some tips on how to work smarter. Here's an infographic with tips for saving heaps of time so you can spend more time in leisure! 1. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. In other words, immediately deal with tasks that take less than 2 minutes to complete. Are you sure all such tasks from your backlog in Wrike are done? 2. Business before pleasure. At work, try to fight off tempting distractions like Facebook. Spend working time productively and use your weekend for the fun, not work! To boost your productivity, choose a professional system. And with Wrike, professional doesn't mean boring! Wrike is as easy and attractive as using your familiar social networks. 3. It's not the hours you put in, but rather what you put into these hours. So tackle the most important and urgent tasks first. Timely prioritization of your tasks in Wrike will let you and your team always keep the focus on the highest-priority tasks. Use project time tracking in Excel or directly in Wrike to see where your time could be better spent. 4. When scheduling a project, remember to leave contingency time to deal with the unexpected. This way you can ensure you'll be on time and fulfill your commitments. If you need to reschedule a task or the entire project, it's as easy as a mouse motion in Wrike. 5. Is multitasking productive? The latest research shows that doing several things at once lowers your IQ score by 10 points! So actually devoting all of your attention and effort to one concrete task is much more cost-efficient, as it saves you time otherwise wasted on switching between different activities. 6. Single-handed success doesn't exist. Divide your tasks into small, actionable items and then delegate them to achieve more together with your team. In Wrike, it's a snap to assign multiple tasks, if needed. You can even do it right from your e-mail inbox. 7. Spare your mind for creative work, letting a reliable and easily accessible system remember all the tasks for you. Wrike helps to handle thousands of tasks and dozens of routine jobs, like sending reminders about due dates and notifications about the plan changes to your team.
Collaboration
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Working for a Workaholic: 10 Strategies to Save Your Sanity
Ever had a workaholic boss? You're glued to your phone, compulsively checking email notifications at 3 AM, and have long given up making weekend plans you'll only have to cancel last minute. While some people love giving their all to their jobs and thrive off of setting and achieving aggressive goals, that always-on mentality isn’t for everyone. If you’re the type of person who needs a firm separation between office and home, working for a workaholic can be stressful, as you feel obligated to adopt their mindset and habits at the risk of your own sanity. If you're feeling pressured to skip your lunch break, answer emails at midnight, and take stacks of work home with you, skip the Irish coffee and read our 10 tips for working for a workaholic instead. 1. Remember that your work style is valid. Even if you give 100% when you’re at the office, you can start to feel like you’re not doing enough just because you’re not answering emails at all hours, or because you leave your work laptop behind when you go on vacation. Remember that your value is based on the quality of your contributions, not just the quantity, and that you don't need to put in 80 hours a week to be a good employee. 2. Don’t assume that just because your manager is a workaholic, they expect the same from you. Chances are, they understand their work style isn't for everyone. So communicate! Talk about how and when you can be reached when you aren’t in the office and under what circumstances. If your manager knows they can get ahold of you when it really counts, they might feel less anxious about having you available all the time. 3. Decide what your limits are and communicate them. If your boss really does expect you to be available 24/7, you'll need to be proactive about protecting your personal time. A good manager will understand that if the work (and worker) is suffering, a change needs to be made. If you’re taking on so much that you can’t be effective at your job, tell your boss that you're spread too thin, and come prepared with solutions to propose. Have a list of projects you think a teammate would be better suited to handle, or suggestions for how to improve processes and make tedious work less time consuming. 4. Once you've set your limits, stick to them. Even if you’ve had “the talk” about work/life balance, old habits die hard, so you may have to remind your boss a few times about your agreement. If you're still regularly getting assignments on Friday evening that are due Monday morning, don’t be afraid to say, “I’m sorry, but I have a prior commitment this weekend.” 5. Schedule an after-hours commitment. Sign up for a 6 PM spin class, or make it known you have to catch the 5:25 train. By having a definite "hard stop" scheduled, you won't end up staying progressively later because you feel pressured to, or because you keep getting handed tasks to complete. Plus, your co-workers and boss will learn to anticipate and accept when you’ll be off for the night. 6. Consider shifting your hours. Will working 10 AM to 7 PM get you more face time? People are more likely to notice those who stay a few hours late more than those who come in early, even though the number of hours worked is the same. 7. Be willing to step up when it counts. It's good to set healthy boundaries, just don't be stubborn when your team really needs you. Chances are, you'll have a few late nights at the office or a big project that eats up a Sunday evening now and again. As long as it's not every weekend, be willing and gracious about stepping up to help out your team when it's important. 8. Keep track of your achievements and productivity. Every time you cross an item off your to-do list or successfully complete a big project, make a note so you can prove that you’ve earned your evenings and weekends. If you’re committed to your work, efficient, and deliver good results, eventually your hours will become a non-issue. 9. Ask for advice. Workaholics spend a lot of time at the office and have likely learned all the ins and outs of your field, which makes them a valuable learning and mentoring resource for you. Take advantage of their knowledge by asking them for advice, particularly on projects that you find challenging. 10. Focus on the positives. Working for a workaholic boss can be a good thing — it can push you to pick up new skills, give you the opportunity to tackle high-profile projects, and put you in the spotlight for promotions. If you’re willing to buckle up and put in a few extra hours, you could be along for an exciting ride! Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance The good news is you don't have to work 24/7 to impress your workaholic boss. Browse our archive of productivity tips and tools to get more done from 9-5, then check out our Q&A with Overwhelmed author Brigid Schulte for the secret to a healthy work/life balance. Sources: Forbes.com, Fortune.com, TheProductivityPro.com, The Wall Street Journal
