Unlearning the Culture of Workaholism and Hyper-Productivity
Redefining Self-Worth beyond Productivity
There are many addictive behaviors we are quick to label and judge as such - alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling, etc. However, things become more complicated when it comes to our day job. What happens when our source of livelihood also becomes the source of our mental and emotional suffering?
Understanding the Culture of Workaholism
Because the societal obsession with work, productivity, and constant busyness has become normalized on a large scale, it can be difficult to identify anything wrong with our cultural norms. Instead, we often internalize the problem, assuming it must be our fault for not being “productive enough.” This assumption often leads to feelings of anxiety, helplessness, worthlessness, shame, and overwhelm. It is a never-ending feedback loop, and it can feel inescapable.
Workaholism vs. Healthy Productivity
There is nothing wrong with being highly motivated for productivity and working towards your career goals. However, there is a distinction between being motivated and hinging your self-worth on what you can produce at work. It’s easy to internalize the capitalistic notions of productivity and profit, but it’s essential to ask yourself where you learned these values and if they align with yours.
A couple of questions to ask yourself to get at this distinction are:
What is my primary motivating factor for success at work?
What do I fear if I didn’t work so hard?
Where do my standards for success mostly come from? Myself, my family, my work culture, or a mixture?
What would it mean about me if I could not perform up to the work standards set for me?
Over-identification with Work Roles
It’s common for the first question we ask when meeting someone to be, “What do you do for a living?” While this is normally innocuous, it implies that our work is one of the most important and interesting parts of what makes us who we are. If we unconsciously identify who we are with what we do, this can lead to identity dissolution and emotional breakdown if we experience instability in our work life. This is an unstable place to put our self-worth. Play around with asking questions that point to your curiosity, and open up more space for connection. For example, you could ask: what is something you’ve been interested in recently? What was the best/worst part of your week? What have you been enjoying getting involved in outside of work?
Redefining Self-Worth beyond Productivity
It’s helpful to zoom out and think of ourselves in a more holistic sense. Here are a couple of questions we can ask ourselves to help us do this:
What makes me intrinsically valuable, above and beyond my work, or how much money I make?
How can I tend to the parts of myself that might feel neglected by my hyper-focus on work and productivity?
What does success truly mean to me?
Who would I be if I were in a different line of work?
It takes time to unlearn the workaholic beliefs and uncouple ourselves from the toxic relationship we might have with work. It’s important to be patient with ourselves as we unravel and rewrite these narratives.