IEEE Spectrum June, 2007 - 52

careers

If you're sneaking a quick read of this
article at the office, after hours, in
between phone calls, then I'm concerned about you. You may be swimming in a whirlpool of work and don't
know how to get out or nearing the
edge of that abyss and afraid of sliding in. Or, perhaps worse, you may indeed
be a workaholic, someone who works at the
expense of a fuller family and personal life.
Some people even use work as an excuse to
avoid going home.
To be sure, we all must put in long hours
sometimes. Deadlines are upon us, some
co-workers are out, and it's up to us to
pick up the slack. But workaholism
is not the same as just working
hard. It is, rather, a compulsion or
even an addiction to work. A 1999
Gallup poll found that 44 percent of
Americans considered themselves
workaholics. Do you?
Whatever your situation or preferences, there can be no doubt that
the world is demanding more and
more of our time for work. Only a
generation ago, the pressing issue
seemed to be what we would do with
the increasing amount of leisure time
as the workweek shortened. It hasn't
worked out that way. Globalization
and increased competition have
induced us to work longer and harder
to get ahead, or just to keep up.
So it was that I eagerly read a recent
newspaper article about how some professionals deal with the problem. It reported
that they were increasingly able to get home
early enough, for example, to kiss their kids
good night. Then came the kicker: one guy
got to work around 6 a.m. so he could leave
at 7 p.m. Ouch!
The fact-or at least the perception-
is that the hours you work often correlate
with the success you attain. Put another
way, you must be seen to work hard or you
will be dismissed as a slacker. A colleague
recently spilled out her concern to me that
she needs to stay in the office late every
night not only to do her work but also to
keep up with her co-workers, who also stay
late every night.
All right, enough about the descriptions of
a workaholic life. Now for some prescriptions
on what to do about it.
The first and most important thing is to
step back and assess your work life in terms
of your goals for your whole life. Ask what
you want to accomplish in your career and
in your personal life, and then ask yourself

72 IEEE Spectrum | June 2007 | NA

how it's going. Remember, it may not be
possible for each of us to have much effect
on the wider world, but we all can affect
how we behave and act in our own world.
Identify actions you can take to improve
your life, at work and away from it. Consider
these specific ways to avoid workaholism:
Manage your tiMe better.
Analyze your job, determine which aspects
are going well and which are not, and then
review your priorities. Do you and your
boss agree on your priorities? Do the two of
you discuss them regularly? Make sure that
everything on your plate needs to be there.
Perhaps you can get some items taken off

your plate or pushed back. Make the argument that you can do only so much, and
do that well; be ready to back it up with
suggestions. Ever hear the phrase "manage
your boss?"
Don't be a perfectionist. Many
of us feel that our work has to be just right,
and thus we will continue to work on it and
not finish it until it is perfect-which it can
never be. (Been there, done that.) If you feel
this way, it's time to renounce your perfectionism. Determine what level of quality
and quantity will satisfy both you and your
boss in a given task. This will make you
more productive and give you more time
for other important things, including your
personal life.
Don't eat lunch at your Desk
every Day. Ah, a sure sign of a workaholic,
or someone just overwhelmed with work.
It's so easy to fall into this trap and just as
easy to get out of the habit. People who eat
at their desks are riding into the false canyon
of thinking that they're getting more done.
Nope. They're just getting tired. (You have
my permission to eat at your desk once or
twice per week, if that makes you happier.)

learn how to say "no." Many
of us take on too much work because we
don't know our limits, or we feel that by
saying "no" we might show inadequacy
or a lack of team spirit. In fact, we need
to assert ourselves and decline additional
work if we are unable to do it in a reasonable manner or time frame. A good way to
respond to someone with another task for
you to tackle is to say, "I'd really like to
handle this, but I'm swamped right now.
Can it wait until later?" Or "It needs to be
done now? Well, I can take it on if you let
me push back [Task A] or shift [Task B]
to someone else."
work at hoMe More. If
work is keeping you in the office a
ridiculously high percentage of your
life, why don't you try to negotiate
working at home on a regular basis?
It could be for specific tasks that
don't require you to be in the workplace-for a day every week or two.
Give it a try.
take vacations. Without
getting into too much psychology
here, I would guess that many compulsive workers tend not to take
vacations on a regular basis, in part
because they feel indispensable.
This is a big mistake. Organizations
want you to take vacations so you'll
come back refreshed and raring to
go. I once spoke to an engineering professor who was trying to decide whether
to take a vacation that year. He said his
wife was pressing him to take the family
on vacation, since he hadn't taken one for
five years.
If you think I'm not in favor of hard work,
you're wrong. I'm a big believer in "work
hard, play hard." But there is a line that's
crossed when one becomes a workaholic,
and it's not always so clear where that line
is. You may need to seek professional help
to sort it all out.
Bottom line: it's up to you to determine
what you want in a full, robust life, and to
make sure that you fulfill your work obligations while also enjoying every day that's
given you.
n

About thE Author
CArL SELINGEr is an aviation and transportation consultant and a college professor. he is the author of Stuff You Don't Learn
in Engineering School: Skills for Success in
the Real World, published by Wiley-IEEE
Press. For more information, see http://www.
carlselinger.com.
www.spectrum.ieee.org

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum June, 2007