Work has a tendency to linger as you stay in bed. Whether it’s the excitement of your most recent achievement or the negative feedback from a year ago. It’s a bad client review, the expanding to-do list, the-how-did-i-forget-this, or the i-should-have-done-it-this-way. Work lingers like a pesky stain. The fix? Some would say it is achieving a Zen mode–becoming a being that is able to differentiate between work and life hours. Structure and balance i.e. getting your shit together, the phrase we whisper to ourselves ten times a day. But perhaps, that’s not quite the answer?
Understanding why we are the hamsters on the wheel
Work addiction is defined by a compulsion to work and preoccupation with work activities leading to significant distress and often harming relevant relationships (friends and family). This problematic behavior can have varying intensity from mild to severe.
In their research, Beyond the Myths about Work Addiction, Pawel et al. write, “The fact that work is widely perceived as a productive and positive activity has hindered wider acknowledgement that for some individuals it could be a devastating addiction.” It is a truth universally acknowledged, that no person who works over the limit is ever told not to. Rather they are admired for their ability to push out of their comfort zone. They are given a raise or appreciated for their dedication to the company and to their role. Work can also serve as a productive distraction from other responsibilities.
People may find it easier to divert their attention to a single-purpose activity such as their job in order to ignore their personal life even if it’s at the cost of their degrading health. Another reason is our common belief system states that if one wants to achieve extraordinary results, they require more hours of effort. Increased competition in the workplace or a toxic hustle culture can create the need for employees to outpace themselves and work increasingly long hours. Or it can also be the high-effort nature of the job itself that leads to burnout and overwork in employees.
Previous studies by Goldstein et. al, 2009 stated that, “It needs to be taken into account that addiction is strongly linked to denial and those who need intervention never recognize this fact.” Work addicts often experience withdrawal symptoms if they limit their working hours such as irritability and bouts of restlessness. Van Heck & Vingerhoets 2007, wrote that, People who are addicted to their work are also unable to take breaks and may develop physical symptoms during vacations, this is known as “leisure-sickness.”
The documentary, ‘Burnout: The Truth about overwork and what we can do about it’, comments on our current work culture, “We are not enhancing life, we are suppressing the people we are supposed to be.”
The Guilt of Working and Not Working
Rowena Tsai, a Lifestyle and Productivity YouTuber described work-life balance as essentially a trade off between your priorities. “This is where the cookie crumbles for me, when we fall into the mentality of constantly choosing between one thing or the other, we’re guilty when we’re working and we’re just as guilty when we’re not working.” Work-life balance has been a common point for discussion in Rowena’s videos over the years. She has admitted to having years of her life when she worked herself to burnout.
She comments in her video, “Isolation and not being able to be fully present and even burnout after looking to find the perfect balance over the past few years, I’m starting to believe that maybe this equilibrium between work and life is indeed elusive.” She also says that, “As the saying goes, you can’t have it all at once, but you probably have most of it over time.”
To gain more insight on practical examples of how people view work-life balance our team interviewed Jack Kelbrick, Campaign Manager at The Vamp. Following are his views on what work-life balance looks like for professionals in an influencer marketing agency.
Do you believe growth can happen while maintaining a healthy balance between work and private life?
Personally, I think it's a necessity to be able to reset. I do believe that burnout is real. I definitely have those moments with work where I need to take some time away in order to reset and realign generally. To make sure, I’m feeling more motivated to do my work, cause once I start getting overwhelmed and burned out, it just diminishes you. I don’t think anyone can grow in that phase. I don’t think growth comes from exhausting yourself. I think growth happens, from being able to maintain a balance.
Do you prioritize work over personal life?
To a degree, I would say I do. Just to expand on what I mean by that–there are certain instances outside of let’s say work hours when I’m at social events with my friends or doing something I would do outside of office hours. There is one instance where my friend came over and we were supposed to watch a football match together and the whole time I was figuring out how to fix this campaign because something needed to happen in that moment so that one story kind of justifies that. I do agree, however, that over certain days over the weekend, I will make sure that I do stuff–like I don’t have my phone with me in order to let’s say make sure that I don’t do any work related activities.
Do you have set routines for your mornings?
I don’t have a set routine but I do have let’s say a slightly variable routine. For three days after work I make sure that I go to the gym. I don’t decide which days ahead–it sort of depends on the week itself. Other than that I do get up in the morning at the same time, have breakfast, get in the car and drive. It’s not something that I put in place, it just sort of has become a ritual. My grandparents, both sets of them, did jobs that were in a certain working time. Let’s say nine to five. So that’s one thing that sort of isn’t for us, technology now doesn’t really permit us to shut off.
Have you personally taken any steps or set any boundaries to ensure that you have a work-life balance?
To be honest, I haven’t. I would say at a point I just stop or I will make sure that I stop. It’s sort of random and the only boundaries I draw are occasionally. Like let’s say on a saturday I’m meeting my friends, I will bring my phone but put it on, do not disturb mode. If it’s Monday to Friday and let’s say it’s 10 o’clock and the client sends me something. I do feel a responsibility to respond. There I would say is a lack of boundaries. Would I consider putting one in place? No, and the reason is because it’s important for me first and foremost to get all my work done. If it means a little thing here and there, perhaps spending an evening–I’ll do it. I’ll sort of push things on so I haven't really got a specific boundary.
Do you have any advice for someone struggling with balance between their personal and work life?
Well, it depends on the individual. I know myself and I am the kind of person who cannot constantly do work without having my own downtime to reset and readjust. Some people–close friends even, I know are workaholics. They’re ready to work at any point. There’s no real boundary and they’re content with their lives. I wouldn’t be. There are no complaints from their side for the obvious lack of work-life balance. So I would advise this person to first and foremost get an understanding of what exactly matters to them and the kind of life they want to lead. It’s important to look into the mirror and decide for yourself: Am I happy with these circumstances? If the answer is yes, I don’t see why you have to change anything unless it’s negatively impacting you.
The Fix
In his book, Deep Work: Rules for a Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport writes, “Ironically, jobs are actually easier to enjoy than free time.” He further explains that, our work activities provide structure to our life. Accomplishing things at your job allows one to become involved, to concentrate and lose oneself in it.
Cal also writes that, “Free time, on the other hand, is unstructured, and requires much greater effort to be shaped into something that can be enjoyed.” He suggests creating a winding down routine that indicates completion of your work. He writes that having a series of steps you always conduct can benefit in creating a ritual for ending work.
He accomplishes this by reviewing his work in a manner that he either has a plan that he trusts for its completion or he captures the task in a place where he can always revisit when the time is right. Finally he ends his day by repeating a simple phrase, “Shutdown complete.” He writes, “This final step sounds cheesy, but it provides a simple cue to your mind that it’s safe to release work-related thoughts for the rest of the day.”
Conclusion
In his “5 balls of life speech”, Coca-Cola’s former CEO Brian Dyson said, “Imagine life as a game where you are juggling five balls in the air–work, family, health, friends and spirit. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls–are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”
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