Workaholic, Are You One?

Let me lay off from writing about government issues this time around. There’s just too many of it, from national to local, from the national economy and the Scarborough Shoal, to the CUSA and the new business permits, to name a few. Too much to think of, too much to work on.

So, let’s tackle something random. Perhaps something like workaholism?

So, what about it? Well, in the technical sense, a workaholic would be defined as somebody who is addicted to work. This does not seem to sound good at all! In fact, a WebMD article mentioned that like other forms of addiction, workaholism could have significant health consequences, including significantly higher work-related stress and job burn-out rates, anger, depression, anxiety, and psychosomatic symptoms such as stomachaches and headaches.

But, even with the above and while almost anything connected to the word addict has bad connotations, workaholism seems to have avoided the bad rep. Workaholism, in fact, generally implies that the person enjoys their work.

In the recent past, work means being at the office or equivalent place of work. Can’t say there are too many workaholics then since it entails bringing a bunch of documents home. With the onset of globalization and new technologies, however, the boundaries between work and private life have been blurred.

Today, working from home is not much different compared to working at the office. Your documents can simply be transmitted via the Internet, or if you have a slow connection, you can just copy documents, even thousands of them, into a drive as small as a thumb. Working at home, or anywhere else outside of the office, couldn’t be any easier.

Okay, so you’re not much into doing office work at home. But hey, there’s this other work-inducing, work-compelling evil that’ll make you work off hours—the cell phone. I don’t even know of anybody who would not make or receive work-related calls outside their regular working hours. But is that even considered work? You bet it is. Anything and everything you do for the benefit of your company is work. I’m not saying that you should charge time for every minute you do it but yeah, it is definitely work. In short, like it or not, you are working beyond your regular working hours. And almost on a daily basis too, ain’t it?

Are you then a workaholic? Most likely, but not necessarily. Workaholism does not necessarily equate to being hard working. Those are two entirely different things. Put simply, a hard worker sits at his desk but may still think about a beach (spelling is correct). A workaholic is on a beach but thinking about work. The former can be perceived as the more “balanced” of the two. However, the hard worker may just be compelled to do the work, a workaholic l-o-v-e-s to do the work.

But is thinking about work while on vacation a bad thing? Not always. Workaholics have their place in society—especially on a capitalist society. In fact, the majority of businessmen are workaholics. Bear with me.

You see, contrary to common opinion, businessmen are not always interested in just the classic motive—making profit. The vast majority work very long hours because they see business as a challenge, almost akin to a game. Business to them is mostly about the battle of brains; the excitement in the ups and downs of markets; it may even be about conquering and subjugating competitors. Business is pleasure, not business or pleasure.

True, money is the stick by which success is gauged, but it is almost just like an abstract unit of measure. Like winning monopoly money, it simply reflects intelligence and cunning, vision and acumen.

So yeah, workaholics identify business with pleasure. While many can be considered self-absorbed and conceited, they are entrepreneurial. They are usually the movers and shakers of society.

See? Being a workaholic isn’t so bad after all. Take that, WebMD!

So, are you one?

(SBFCC Newsletter Volume 17 Issue 7)