Career ladder or hamster wheel: That's how fast you become addicted to work

Workaholism is not a harmless workaholic, but a serious addiction with sometimes serious consequences. The boundaries between hamster wheel and career ladder are fluid. What can we do so that it does not get that far?

Workaholic or workaholic? The picture in the media

The fact that the topic is repeatedly present in the media shows how important it is in our Society is. It is usually about workaholism and the media like to translate the topic as “work mania”.

Workaholism would probably be more correct, because it is more about when People can only talk about their job, day and night for theirs Executive Want to be reachable and not be able to switch off even on vacation or at night - typical symptoms. Incidentally, Wikipedia also has “workaholism” as a translation for workaholism.

Workaholism can be deadly

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How serious this disease can be is shown by two spectacular deaths in recent times: The head of finance of the Swiss insurance group Zurich, Pierre Wauthier, committed suicide because apparently the job pressure became too great for him. And in London, a young German banker apparently died from overwork because of too many 24 hours shifts. But despite the dangers, workaholism is not uncommon.

The main reason why many people stick to their stressful work schedule, despite the obvious downsides, is its social standing. Perfectionism one of the main triggers and impeller for workaholism.

Aspiration, fighting spirit, sense of order: Workaholism has many seemingly positive sides

Also features such as aspiration, ambition, fighting spirit, sense of order or organizational ability are considered excellent qualities to make a career; they are consistently well documented in modern day-to-day work. In addition, they are good for your own ego, which in turn enhances your addiction to workaholism.

And while addictions such as hard drugs or uncontrolled alcohol consumption are ostracized socially, workaholism, so-called workaholism, is considered to be of a high social standing, is considered normal and is often even used by the Companys wanted. Therefore, it is so hard to admit that the corresponding patterns of behavior are harmful and to change them.

Stress vs. Stress Flow: That's the difference

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So that clear is: We're not talking about healthy productivity here; from the flow, when we are briefly carried away by enthusiasm. We're talking about a destructive striving that mostly comes from the Anxietynot doing the right thing is nurtured. What the difference is and what happens in our brain and our hormone balance, I already have that on Best of HR - Berufebilder.de® about the Effect of flow, stress and endorphins written. Because with negative Stress Personal insecurity is all too often compensated with hectic productivity.

Nevertheless, workaholic people give the impression of being particularly productive and thus appear as the ideal high achievers. Because in our society, whoever gives 110 percent has to, after all successfully be - right?

Every hamster wheel looks like a career ladder from the inside

But "every hamster wheel looks like a career ladder from the inside" - a very accurate sentence, I think. And the demons that keep us coming Performance drive, are deep within us - but they are driven by the social factors mentioned above circumstances still favored.

How that applies, I realized, when I discovered some time ago a contribution by the American blogger Allison Vesterfelt. She had started a brave self-experiment on 2010: she gave up her job as a teacher to become a blogger, sold her possession and moved across the United States - from Portland to Oregon to Minneapolis.

When the dream job becomes a nightmare

You could say Allison set herself free to indulge in her passion for travel and writing. And yet her post “Blogging Is Stealing My Creative Energy” shows that the inner drivers are still there - and that she feels burned out today.

“… Something didn't change. I just kept following all the rules. (I think I'm addicted to them.) When it comes to blogging I've been following all the rules for awhile now. And I'm assuming that's part of the problem. The more I follow the rules, the less of me I have to put toward what I'm doing. The more focused I am on becoming a “blogger”, the less focused I am on becoming Ally. ”

So the best job is stressful

In her blog post, Allison Vesterfelt analyzed why the dream job turned into a nightmare. Every job has advantages and disadvantages. For example, if you want to make a living from professional blogging, you unfortunately have to deal with key figures and statistics, ensure access to your site, and and and. I know this from my own experience and can therefore well understand Allison's description:

“It used to keep me up at night, and get me out of bed in the morning. I used to feel invigorated by it, obsessed with leaning the ropes, challenging myself to produce better content, faster, to post it at the right days of the week and tweet about it at the right times of the day. I would check my stats compulsively, excited each time I saw the blue line go above the green line, and thrilled each time a new comment came, someone else who wanted to join the conversation. I would rush to my computer, several times a day to read, listen, and respond. ”

Inner impeller: We are responsible for it

At the same time, this very personal statement shows that we are responsible for how strongly we drive ourselves. Because nobody forces us to constantly check statistics and run the computer around the clock. We do it all by ourselves. And so we can change the situation ourselves - and more often take a break, treat ourselves and do something good.

It sounds simple and yet the simple fact that we are good to ourselves leads to less insecurity and more relaxation. Just try it. Good luck breaking out of the hamster wheel!

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