There is an element of pride attached to the word - Workaholic. There are some who claim to be one and proudly so. There are bragging rights earned when you burn the midnight oil, live out of a bag, sit in the corner office structuring plans, consume umpteen cups of coffee, equal number of re-invigorating breaks and have a line up of meetings. They have several missed calls and messages on their phones and some consider themselves fortunate if such people actually answer their call.
I was one too - have burnt the midnight oil several times over. Have had many people ask me if i have stayed up all night...it felt good. Lived out of a bag for several years and earned an astronomical quantity of miles with a passenger privilege status that one can only dream about. Felt guilty leaving office early lest i be seen as the one without much work.
In hindsight - It wasn't worth it.
While i rose in ranks, position and responsibility i lost a number of softer aspects. From being one of the fittest guy, i became sloppy. Lost out on several family occasions that would have been delightful, didn't understand a vacation as i was anyway in a new city / country each month and travelling for rest made me cringe. Made me restless when i was not around my computer and very often woke up at unearthly hours to send mails....let me tell you, zombies don't look smart.
I still advise, be a workaholic but, change the mix. There is no correlation or a study that i have come across that states that a company of workaholics rose much faster than those who worked within sane hours. I believe that if you have planned your work right and have a structured approach to problem solving within a good organisation structure, nine hours is more than sufficient to work productively and efficiently.
Take an interest in fitness - there are couple of benefits
- Your ability to be self motivated increases as the limits that you can reach are set by you.
- Results are never instantaneous so unless you follow the rigor regularly, results never come through. It teaches you to be patient
- The variations are so many and the right mix of work outs is essential to tone yourself....it teaches you that no one method fetches results, it is a calculated and intelligent combination that works.
Be a kid in some measure - Either you can be a kid to be with a kid or just have a curiosity of a kid to experiment new things, learn a few things from scratch without worrying about your age or what others will say. Many intellectuals have said this....it is never too late to learn anything.
Enjoy the flavour of what you eat - i am still not good at it, but the few times i have followed, it leads to earnest fact finding about cooking (which i believe is a good therapy) which is a conversation that is interesting and leads to many interesting joinder.
Read something interesting - Good GK leads to conversations and such people make good company.
It is ok to share a laugh - it is the best de-stresser i have found. You don't have to be utterly silly to do this but observations, instances that have a fun element may help.
Pick some of the above, or all of them or add something of your own but draw a boundary to work. Be a workaholic but make sure to change the mix.
