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Workaholism: An Entrepreneurs Compulsion for Acceptance, Work and Money

Guest post by: Allan Katz

Article Overview: Workaholism is merely a reaction to a need to be right, to be in control. According to Judith Sills, Ph.D. in Excess Baggage, “You are an organized person who treasures productivity. If you had a psychiatric label it would be obsessive & compulsive, and you brag about being a workaholic.”

Workaholism: An Entrepreneurs Compulsion for Acceptance, Work and Money

What does it mean to be addicted to work?

Workaholism is merely a reaction to a need to be right, to be in control. According to Judith Sills, Ph.D. in Excess Baggage, “You are an organized person who treasures productivity. If you had a psychiatric label it would be obsessive & compulsive, and you brag about being a workaholic.”



I’m in love with my computer. I have a special mouse and pad and cute pictures on my desktop to remind to stop wasting time and get back to work. My e-mail filing system rivals the New York City Public Library card catalog, except now that’s even online. I get a rush from using paper clips and stapling huge stacks of relevant papers together and filing them away without remembering where I put them or what is in them. So I made a to do list and include an index of my paper filing system so I can access the papers I need months from now when I’m researching some obscure topic like the probability of two ads generating equal results online and offline in a down economy after the launch of the last Harry Potter book.

“Shoulds” haunt me like a gnawing dragon gripping my sore left shoulder with its big, green claws. I should be working on this project but I’m stuck sticking and licking stamps on envelopes for the non profit I volunteered to help reluctantly. I should be writing that proposal for a new potential client but what if it’s not good enough or I don’t get it right? What will my inner critic think of me?

“Shoulds” are like my inner critics’ theme song playing at warp speed, louder than a speeding locomotive during rush hour. I’m addicted to compiling to-do lists and planning the week, the month, the year, the decade, the rest of my life. My work life is compartmentalized on yellow ruled paper to be filed somewhere and then forgotten.

Then I question whether it’s better to write them down on paper or add them to my email organizer. After all I only check my email every 10 minutes now. This way I can have my email reminding me every second of my life that there is something else I should be doing.

“Shoulds’ spill over to what other people do also. As Judith Sills says, “You are usually willing to follow the rules, but you are the one reading from the rule book.”

Sudden impulses affect my decisions. As I look around I want everyone else to follow the rules as I see them. As I live them. When they don’t, it leads to frustration and resentment. In business, I’m not satisfied with my decisions until I’ve checked in with every marketing guru I subscribe to, past e-mails, tapes, CDs, DVDs, home study courses, coaches, mentors and seminars to make sure I’m right. I'm addicted not only to work but in love with my gurus.

As addicted entrepreneurs, we set up rigid expectations about the future. You write a business plan, get funding, buy some equipment and advertise you plan to make $100,000 in your first year working from home. Then addictive thinking kicks in; challenging your decisions, jeopardizing your intuitive reasoning and tempting you to reconsider why you bought an online basket weaving franchise in the first place.

This back and forth thought paralysis leads to procrastination, perfectionism and impulsiveness to distract yourself with something that won’t talk back to you so harshly. A distraction that will soothe your bruised ego and reassure you that just for a few minutes you can jump online and surf to your hearts content, paralyzing your plans and distancing your healthy drive to succeed for a moment of fake pleasure.

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Article Tags: addicted entrepreneur, entrepreneur, perfectionism, procrastination, work distraction, workaholic, workaholism



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