Signs You’re Addicted To Work

1. You work over 50 hours a week

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The average working week for a full time employee is 37.5 hours. If you're exceeding 50 hours a week then that is a tell tale sign that you're a workaholic. There's no way you are working that much and still finding time to eat well, sleep well and socialise with your friends and family.

2. You're constantly thinking about how to free up more time to work

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If you find yourself cancelling other plans in order to get a few more hours of work in then you may have a problem... Maybe you've skipped the last few family parties to stay at the office late, or you make excuses not to meet your friends so you can stay with your laptop instead. Either way, you are obviously working too much.

3. You're obsessed with succeeding at work

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Succeeding at work is obviously very rewarding to a lot of people. It gives you a sense of achievement and a reason to be proud of yourself. If it's overtaking your whole life though, then it is becoming an unhealthy obsession. If all you think about is your next career move up the ladder, you need to learn to be more content about where you are right now.

4. You lie awake at night thinking about work

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Most people need at least seven hours of sleep a night to function properly the next day. How much sleep are you getting? There's a good chance you're lying awake at night with you brain buzzing about work and to do lists. Without a good nights sleep, you won't be able to function at an optimum level.

5. You feel stressed if you are unable to work

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If you find yourself in a situation where you are unable to work, that would really stress you out. Maybe you have been physically forced into taking a sick day, or maybe you're on a plane without your laptop. If this is you, you need to work on detaching yourself from work and taking a well earned break.

6. You prioritise work over all of your hobbies

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Do you remember the days when you had hobbies? A weekend spin class or run with friends. When was the last time you did that? It isn't healthy for your work to consume your life. You need to be fulfilled in other ways, so cancelling all your hobbies to work extra hours is a slippery slope.

7. You often zone out of conversations because you're thinking about work

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Your friends have often caught you not listening to what they're saying because your mind is still back at the office focussed on work. It will often mean that you come across very rude and you might even find yourself losing friends because of it. Be present in the company you're in.

8. Your health suffers because of how much you work

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Being a workaholic can take a toll on your mental and physical health. Skipping meals, sleeping less and just generally being more stressed will all blow up in your face at some point. It's not healthy and you are taking yourself down a path to burnout. You need to eat regular, healthy meals and prioritise sleep and exercise.

9. You feel the need to be constantly busy

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You might be a workaholic if you constantly feel the need to be busy. No slow mornings for you, taking a bit of time to relax. You need to be on the go at all times! What's the point if you're not working, right? Even on your weekends or evenings off, you will find something to fill your time.

10. You can't even remember the last time you took a sick day

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Sometimes you need a sick day! It happens to the best of us. If you can't remember the last time you took a sick day then maybe you have an addiction to work. Powering through an illness won't help you get better and it will almost certainly have a negative effect in the long run.

11. You don't stick to normal working hours

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One of the biggest signs of work addiction is the overtime hours you're putting in. You might often find yourself still at the office hours after your co-workers have gone home. You might even find an excuse to pop in there on a Saturday 'just for a few hours'.

12. People close to you have asked you to take time off work

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Your family and friends have probably recognised that you're working too much. They might have even voiced their opinions to you, even though you probably won't listen. Sometimes it takes an outsider to open your eyes to the real damage that you're doing.

13. You work as a distraction from your problems

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You might have some issues going on in your personal life so you use work as a distraction. Like many addictions, it is only a temporary solution. The sooner you face your problems head on, the sooner you can find a solution and move on a happier person.

14. Work is every aspect of your life

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When you become obsessed with work, you no longer make any time for yourself or your friends and family. It becomes your number one priority, and everything else will start to suffer, and you probably won't even notice. Your every thought is about work and you stop getting pleasure from any other aspect of your life.

15. You're always busy with work but not necessarily always productive

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Excessive work does not always equal an increase in productivity. If you're approaching burnout and working for the sake of working, you probably aren't producing good work. You will be more successful in a task if you are well rested and well fed before hand.

16. You miss out on family occasions to work

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You might try and tell yourself that your kids won't mind if you miss their school play, but they probably will. If you're missing it to work, then I can guarantee your other half won't be happy either. We all need to work to earn a living, but there's a reason everyone talks so much about work life balance... because it's important!

17. You work hard to improve how you feel about yourself

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Your success at work is directly correlated with your self worth. This is another unhealthy trait that workaholics possess. Your work does not define you and you can be a very fulfilled person outside of your work successes, you just need to open yourself up.

18. Working stops you from feeling guilty, depressed or anxious

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Depression and anxiety are just some of the indicators of emotional distress often cause by burnout. You might use work as a tool to stop yourself feeling this way, but you could actually just be making the situation worse. Take some time to understand why you're feeling this way and how you can move forward.

19. Your relationships have suffered because of your habit of over working

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Maybe your previous girlfriends have broken up with you because they say you work too much. You might disagree but surely you can recognise the pattern... If you don't put time and effort into a relationship, you can't be shocked when they don't succeed.

20. You use work to numb your feelings

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Deep down you might recognise that you're not happy. Rather than facing these issues head on and finding a way to manage them, you bury yourself in work and use it as a way to escape your feelings and your reality. The real reality is these feelings won't go away unless you deal with them.

21. You are unable to relax when you're not working

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Time off from work is important. It's important so you can rest and recharge and return to work with the energy to be productive. If you find yourself unable to sit still and relax on a weekend, then you might be addicted to work. You need to find something to help you wind down, maybe reading a book or painting.

22. You write A LOT of to-do lists

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To-do lists are a great way to help you stay organised. However, they need to remain manageable. A workaholic will probably have a million to-do lists, all as long as their arm of an unachievable amount of work to get done. Yes it's fun for you but make sure you are using this coping mechanisms wisely.

23. You ignore other people's advice on cutting down on work

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Your family might hold an intervention of sorts for you because they think you're addicted to work. They're probably right, but you choose to ignore them and carry on working crazy hours. Sometimes you don't always know what's best for yourself. It's not failure to accept help.

24. You've been called a 'control freak'

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It's not nice to be called names and a 'control freak' is not necessarily a compliment. The reason people might think this is because you're so highly strung from working too much that you feel the need to manage everyone else as well as yourself and it's not always a good role to have.

25. You get stressed if you have to turn off your phone or other devices

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Does the thought of turning your phone off give you anxiety? This is a definite sign that you're addicted to work. It's very unlikely that the world will end because you turn your phone off for a few hours. It will probably do you some good to have a break! You should embrace it.

26. You are a perfectionist

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Being a perfectionist is not a bad personality trait. It's a trait that a lot of people have an a dedication to providing perfect work is not a negative thing. However, combine it with an addiction to work and it's quite a dangerous combination. You are more likely to take on more than you can manage and stress yourself out to the max.

27. You become mentally exhausted

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There's many signs of mental exhaustion. You might be more irritable than usual or feel inexplicably anxious. You might experience brain fog while you're trying to work on an important task. You should take the hint and take some time away! Being in a state of burnout never helped anyone.

28. You prioritise work over sleep

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Sleep is a HUGE factor when it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle. It is not something that should be neglected. You can't survive on a few hours sleep long term. So stop staying up late to finding that proposal or to read those notes, you need to manage your working time better so you can switch off and get some sleep

29. You worry about failing at work

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You're so wrapped up in your work life that it spilling over into your personal life. Everyone has goals they want to achieve, but working too much can cause deep rooted anxieties to grow and the worry of not achieving these goals can stop you from sleeping and take a massive chunk out of your self esteem.

30. You get more of a buzz from work than you do from your personal life

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It's a great thing to enjoy your job and be fulfilled from it. But it's important to have fulfilment from other areas of your life too. If you only get joy from work and your achievements at work, rather than any personal mile stones, you may need to take a good long look at your life.