Today I want to talk about the issue of chronic overworking. It’s a widespread in corporate America but for entrepreneurs as well. 

A few decades ago, laptops and cellphones blurred the lines between work and home. And for many, it took away clear boundaries. It made it harder to be clear around when work for the day stops, and for many people, quite simply, it doesn’t. 

And now, with the rise of remote work during the pandemic, the boundaries are even blurrier because now our home IS the workplace. And if THAT’S true, can we EVER stop working?   

And it’s not just the corporate types that struggle with this. It’s long been an issue for entrepreneurs as well. While in theory, business owners can set their hours and work when they choose, the truth is, it’s not that simple for many. And this is getting to the heart of the issue. Chronic overworking is about so much more than choosing the hours you work or having a lot to get done or whatever. It’s about something much deeper. And that’s what we’re going to explore in this episode.

Now it’s important to know, when I talk about overworking here, I’m not referring to short periods of intense work when you’re trying to hit a specific deadline. I’m talking here about when overworking has become ingrained. It’s a habit. It’s part of our life. 

And for some that’ll happen periodically. For others, it’s just the way they live, permanently. This is going to be an interesting one, so let’s dive in. 

When you look at the issue logically, overworking can seem super easy to solve. Just set clear boundaries and live within those. But the truth is, chronic overworking is complicated. It’s about far more than the work that needs to get done. It’s primarily caused by what we THINK and how we FEEL about the work that needs to get done AND by our assessment of our ability to be successful at it. 

So, while other well-meaning family and friends might tell you “Just shut it off at 5”, the issue runs much deeper than that. Chronic overworking is typically caused by feelings of stress or anxiety that can get triggered in two ways: 

1.       They can be triggered by external forces. So, through the expectations or culture of our employer or boss.

2.       Or two, and I think even more commonly, the feelings of stress and anxiety get triggered INTERNALLY, because of something we either want to do and fear we can’t. OR, because of something that’s happening around us that we interpret in a way that triggers our stress and anxiety. So, we overwork to self-soothe ourselves. To make it easier to cope with these unpleasant feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, fear, not feeling good enough or whatever.

Whether the feelings of anxiety or stress are coming from external or internal forces, our default response to those negative feelings is the same. We work longer and harder to give ourselves a false sense of control and to ease the anxiety and stress we feel.

So, we work all the time. Nights. Weekends. We answer emails at all hours of the night and it’s the first thing we check when we wake up in the morning. We don’t take a lunch break or any break really. We skip vacations or we work through vacations. While the rest of the family is frolicking on the beach, we’re glued to our phone or sneaking in calls to the office while we think no one is looking. 

Sound familiar? I know it does for me. 

For more, give the episode a listen.

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