Being a workaholic is counterproductive

I am a recovering workaholic.

It all began in my last 2 years in university: I took on many volunteer roles, kept a part-time job or two, joined a mentorship program, and went to a ton of networking events. I was also busy writing on my blog.

After university, I kept the same rhythm: If I wasn’t working (or doing something I deemed to be productive), I was thinking about working.

I got a lot of things done, but I was also miserable. I barely saw my family, and I had little time for friends. Even my relationship with my boyfriend suffered during this time. I felt burnt out. But most interestingly, I started to become less productive even if I was working so hard.

Today, I work less. I still work more than 40 hours a week — perhaps even 50+ hours per week if you include the time I put in for my personal blog and my LinkedIn posts — but I don’t have an insane schedule. And the miraculous thing is that I am more productive, and the quality of my work has drastically improved. I was able to do this by putting less focus on my career.

I see a lot of people, both young and old, who prioritize their career to the point of abandoning everything else. They proudly call themselves “workaholics” as if it’s a badge of honor. They put in a lot of hours at the office and on improving their careers. They constantly check work emails, and they feel guilty about taking lunch breaks.

I don’t blame these people: We live in a culture of busy. Many people brag about being busy as if the volume of the work they have to get done is directly proportional to their worth as human beings.

But one thing I’ve learned — and research actually supports this — is that when you stop prioritizing your career, you’re more likely to succeed. It’s counterintuitive, yes, but here are some reasons why this is true.

Focusing on your happiness makes you a more productive person.

One of my favorite books about productivity is called Before Happiness. In the book, Shawn Achor shares an intriguing insight about the link between happiness and productivity. In his work in positive psychology, Achor discovered that happiness is an advantage and the precursor to greater success. He calls this the “Happiness Advantage.”

What I took from Before Happiness was this: By focusing on your happiness — not your career — you’re ultimately working on becoming a better employee. In other words, you owe it to your employer, your boss or your shareholders to be happy. When you’re happy, you can make better decisions at work and you get more things done.

Skipping lunch makes you look like disorganized.

When things get super busy, it’s tempting to skip lunch. That 15 to 30 minutes of lunch time just doesn’t seem doable given all the things you have to accomplish for the day.

But refusing to take breaks is not just bad for your health, it is also be bad for your career. Here’s what the Brazen Life has to say about skipping lunch:

Management will never tell you to stop working through your lunch. What management cares about is how productive you are, and not necessarily how hard you work…Working harder than your colleagues does not mean that you’re more productive than them.

But if your boss sees you work through lunch every day, she’ll assume you’re unable to control your workload and are more prone to make mistakes.

The best way to avoid giving off signals that you can’t manage your workload? Don’t work during lunch.

I realize that some days are just crazy busy. My advice: work smarter. If you know you need to take a 30-minute lunch break everyday, you’ll find a way to get more things done in the shorter amount of time that you have.

Taking a break makes you a more creative person.

Research into creativity suggests that letting your mind wander is key to unlocking creativity. That’s because when the mind wanders, it connects previous experiences and old and new ideas, which helps you come up with creative solutions to problems.

So, how do you let your mind wander? You could drink or exercise. But a more realistic thing to do at work is to take a break. One recent study found that focused work for 52 minutes — and then taking a 17 minute break after — is the ideal amount of time to get things done.

Taking a break is not necessarily unproductive: Your mind is capable of solving a problem subconsciously even if you’re not actively thinking about it. In Psychology Today, behavioral psychologist Susan Weinschenk says stepping away from the task at hand can actually make you more creative and productive:

It has to do with how your brain works. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is in the front of your head (think forehead). The role of the PFC (among many things) is to concentrate on the task at hand, as well as to go searching for existing information you have stored in memory, and combine it with other existing information you have stored. It is this searching and combining of the PFC that allows you to solve problems and come up with new and novel ideas. Here’s the rub — if you keep your PFC too focused on the “task at hand” then it can’t go searching for interesting combinations of information you have stored in memory. When you take a break (the walk, the garden, the shower, the dishes) then your PFC is freed up to go searching and combining. So if you need to solve a problem or want a new idea, let your PFC know what you want to solve and then take a step away and take a break!

The next time you find yourself stuck at a task, go take a quick break. You deserve it! And as research shows, taking that break will let you come back more focused and more productive.

Checking your email after work makes you less productive the next day.

With the amount of emails we get everyday, it seems logical to check your inbox frequently. But this “always on” mentality is bad for your sleep, your focus and, ultimately, your productivity.

Two research studies confirm this:

In the first study, researchers from the University of Florida, Michigan State University, and the University of Washington surveyed 82 mid- to high-level managers enrolled in MBA classes first thing in the morning and late afternoon over the course of 10 days. The ages were varied, but nearly half fell between 31 and 40 years old. In the second study, the same researchers from looked at a more diverse sample of 161 employees in a variety of industries. In both situations, the authors found that smartphone use, as distinguished from other technologies, could be linked to disrupted sleep and disengagement from work the next day.

There’s another reason not to answer emails late at night: expectations. If you start sending off emails at 2am, your boss will come to expect that you’re available all the time and that you’d respond quickly whenever she sends you an email.

If you’re worried about missing important emails at work, let your colleagues know how they can reach you during emergencies. Often, a phone call is more appropriate and timely when urgent issues arise.

Conclusion

I am not suggesting that you slack off at work, but what I’m advocating for is a smarter and more balanced approach. Putting too much emphasis on your career could burn you out, make you less focused and ultimately reduce your productivity. It’s counterproductive to put your career first. If you’re serious about becoming a more productive member of your team, prioritize your personal and family life. Everything else will fall on its rightful place.

Photo credit: Death to the Stock