Working to earn a living is okay, especially if you have a family to support. However, working too much is not good because it can ruin your personal life, like your friendships, marriage, and even your health, not knowing you are already experiencing burnout.
Sometimes, people work overtime not because they want to but because they have no choice. They need to finish their work on time or take their work home. This can be avoided if you know how to manage your work well. Whether you love to work or have no choice but to work overtime, you need to get some valuable tips and advice to keep you from working too much. Here is some crucial information.
Learn how to say 'no' at work.
If your boss always asks you to do overtime work or a coworker asks you to cover for him, you should learn to say no, especially if you already have a personal commitment. Sometimes, you just need to put your foot down so that these people will not always think that you are always available. There's nothing wrong with saying 'no' as long as you have finished the tasks you need to do and have already done your fair share of overtime work.
Do not bite off more than you can chew.
This means that you do not accept every assignment that comes your way. There are times when your boss will assign you to do other jobs aside from your regular responsibilities. For example, you may feel excited that your boss trusted you to assign another set of tasks, and you decide to accept everything. However, you must evaluate if you can finish everything within your regular time at the office before accepting. This way, you won't have to work overtime or feel burned out because of the number of tasks you have to finish. You can complete your current task before deciding to take on another.
Limit your work time.
If you find yourself working 12 hours most days of the week, four hours more than the regular hours, you should rethink your whole schedule and consider limiting your work time to 8 hours or even 9 hours. You need to set a rule for yourself, like no working from 8 pm to 8 am, no working at home, or no working on Sunday. By limiting your work time, you give yourself enough time to do other activities for your personal life. The key here is to be strict with yourself and ensure that you adhere to your work schedule to avoid using up the time you set aside for your personal life.
Do not procrastinate but be flexible.
If you have a deadline, you have to make sure that you meet the deadline by working as early as possible and not procrastinating. On the other hand, you should also be flexible when it comes to your deadlines. Do not try to finish everything in a day if you can put off your other tasks the next day. This is assuming that you have done everything you can to work efficiently. You should cut yourself some slack if you cannot finish a lot of workloads in a day.
Avoid perfectionism.
Workaholics are usually perfectionists. They want te ensuretheir work is perfect before they can relax and take a break. However, you need to understand that being a perfectionist is not a good thing if it affects your personal life and the lives of the people around you. For example, if you are working in a team, you will drive your teammates mad by trying to perfect every little detail of your project. If you have subordinates, they will also feel burned out by having to perfect their job because their superior is a perfectionist. You need to remember that there is no such thing as being perfect. You need to stop worrying and simply accept that there are some things that you cannot do anything about, and taking a break is the only practical thing to do. If you have done your best to finish the project in the highest quality possible, you must give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
Work efficiently.
Some people are forced to work overtime because they cannot finish their tasks on time. This is because they do not know how to work efficiently. You are efficient if you can finish your workload within a short period of time. You can do different ways to be more efficient in your work. For one, disconnecting your computer from the internet can make you more efficient because you cannot check your email or your social media accounts every five seconds. You should also consider grouping similar tasks together to save time. If you are a writer, you should do all the research first before you start writing to save time. You should also start organizing your workspace. You may not notice it, but you spend several minutes a day looking for your pen or notepad under the piles of paper on your desk, which eats up a small portion of your time. Another tip to work efficiently is to plan your day's schedule ahead. By having an idea of what you are going to do, you can be more systematic and productive during the day.
Don't feel guilty when not working.
Workaholics work long hours because they feel guilty when they stop working. They feel like they are shirking from their responsibilities if they relax for even just a short time. You can avoid feeling guilty by thinking you have done your obligations and deserve to relax and unwind. You need to find pleasurable things and you really enjoy doing to make you feel like taking a break from work is worth it. You should also focus on the activity rather than constantly worrying about your work.
Schedule short breaks while working.
To rest your mind and body, you should schedule short breaks aside from your usual lunch break and 15-minute breaks. For example, after working straight for an hour, you should stop working for about a minute to stretch your body and rest your eyes. You can also take a break after finishing one task. A few minutes break here and there can do a lot of wonders to your mind and will help you work more efficiently and be more productive.
Delegate tasks.
You should learn to delegate the task to someone else if it is not your responsibility. This is specifically true if you are working with a team. You should learn how to delegate tasks properly among your teammates. You should not take the burden of doing most of the tasks alone while all the others are doing very little for the team. Some workaholics shoulder most of the burden because they feel like their coworkers cannot do the job well. You need to learn to trust the people around you if you want to stop being a workaholic. By delegating tasks among your team, you are also teaching them to be responsible by finishing the tasks assigned to them without your constant help.