Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Workaholism: Anxiety, Addiction, and Finding Balance in a Busy World

Sep 11, 2023

01:10:29

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The podcast discusses workaholism in today's productivity-focused culture, exploring its psychological functions and relation to other addictions. They delve into differentiating workaholism from working hard, competence, approval seeking, population groups more prone to workaholism, the stages of change, and the challenges of balancing work and family. They also discuss tracking time, the challenges of disengaging from fulfilling work, and the concept of internalizing social support.

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Quick takeaways

Workaholism is a compulsive drive to work excessively, often resulting in an imbalance in life.

Workaholism can serve as a coping mechanism for underlying feelings and a way to find external validation.

Practical strategies to address workaholism include tracking time, scheduling breaks, seeking social support, and practicing mindfulness.

Deep dives

Understanding the nature of workaholism

Workaholism is the compulsive and excessive drive to work, often resulting in an imbalance in one's life. It is characterized by being overly concerned about work, investing excessive time and effort into work to the detriment of other important areas of life. Workaholism is similar to other forms of addiction and can lead to withdrawal symptoms when work is not possible. Workaholism is socially validated and reinforced, making it difficult to address and change this behavior. It is important to differentiate between workaholism as a coping mechanism and reasonable work commitments driven by circumstances or personal passions.

Anticipating the Inner Audience and Workaholism

01:31

The Benefits of Tracking and Delegating Responsibilities in Daily Life

01:45

NaN:NaN

Who's Predisposed to White Picket Fence Issues?

01:20

Introduction

2min

The Dimensions of Workaholism

24min

Challenges of Balancing Work and Family

2min

Finding a Doctor and Introducing Sponsors

4min

Demographics and Gender Representation

5min

The Stages of Change Model

20min

Tracking Time and Allowing Influence for Personal and Professional Development

2min

The Challenges of Disengaging from Fulfilling Work

15min

In our productivity-obsessed, always-on world it’s easy for busyness to become a badge of honor. But sometimes that effort-ing transforms from the reasonable pursuit of our goals into workaholism: a compulsive, even addictive drive to work. In today’s episode Forrest and Dr. Rick explore what workaholism is really, the psychological functions it serves, and how it relates to other addictive behaviors. You’ll learn both how to approach changing behaviors like workaholism in general and specific interventions that can help.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

2:20: Differentiating workaholism from working hard

9:40: Preempting criticism, and your internal audience

17:10: Competence, approval seeking, and motives

23:50: Addiction without social stigma

28:40: Population groups more prone to workaholism

33:50: The stages of change

37:45: Moving to the wider view, craving and regret

40:55: Embodying your future self, and social support

43:10: Identity, and creating a coherent narrative

46:00: Underlying feelings, mindfulness, and making choices

49:20: Distinguishing being and becoming

52:25: Tracking your time, and scheduling time off

54:50: Giving others influence over your behavior

56:20: Rick’s personal experience navigating a healthy work ethic

1:01:20: Recap

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Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Workaholism: Anxiety, Addiction, and Finding Balance in a Busy World