SINGAPORE: A burned-out employee took to social media to ask his fellow Singaporeans, “How do you maintain work-life balance?”
Due to his workaholic nature, the employee revealed that he often worked overtime at the office and on weekends to complete his tasks. He said that sometimes, he would even take on the work of his colleagues to avoid any delay in the project timeline.
Ultimately, however, he became burned out and decided to take a break and a quick vacation. However, he said:
“During my vacation, my colleagues would still contact me because there were some urgent issues with the project and I had to even join meetings.
I also received messages during cny but I decided to ignore because it’s really taking a toll on my mental health. I noticed that some of my colleagues also workaholics,” the employee wrote on r/askSingapore on Monday (Feb 12).
He then asked, “Under what circumstances would you work after hours and even weekend?”
‘I develop my boundaries when I realize that we are just one cog in the machine’
Most of the Singaporean Redditors who left comments on the employee’s post seemed to share the same mindset in the past. They discussed their personal experiences and offered the employee advice on overcoming workaholism.
One Redditor said, “I develop my boundaries when I realize that we are just one cog in the machine. We can easily be replaced.
I am a perfectionist too. One thing that I do to keep me to not work mindlessly just to chase perfect outcomes is to have a priority list. I have 2 lists, one for daily and one for weekly.
I also noted the rationale/reason and end-goal for each item in the list. These reason and end-goal help me to not to chase perfect outcomes; As long as I reached the end-goal, I am done.”
Another commented, “For me, it was a mindset shift. One day, i just thought that whatever i am doing, it’s not sustainable anymore, and if i don’t set boundaries for myself, who would.
I don’t really OT anymore these days. I don’t mind staying 30 minutes longer each day, but hard cut off for anything beyond that.
There was a famous saying, “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook” – i take it as there is only so much time we have each day, hence it’s important to choose our priorities intentionally.”
One Redditor also shared, “I stopped putting in any extra effort, basically. My company pays me for x amount of hours. I didn’t see the need to stay back and do unpaid OT.
I think the biggest catalyst for change was the fact that taking breaks gave me more anxiety because I would come back to more work. I wanted to be able to enjoy my leave and holidays in peace”
How to overcome Workaholism
According to the American Psychological Association, a workaholic is someone who finds it difficult to stop working and has an obsessive drive to work to an excessive degree.
Workaholism isn’t synonymous with passion or love of work, nor is it synonymous with being overworked; it is a form of addiction that can have adverse effects on an individual’s health in the long run.
So, how does one overcome workaholism?
Admit you’re a workaholic. The first thing you’ll need to do is acknowledge that there’s an issue. Once you have accepted this fact and consciously decided to change your habits, you will be motivated to make the effort to change.
Communicate with your boss. Ask your boss to sit down with you and have an open and honest conversation about the patterns you’re seeing in yourself, and see if you can do anything to change those patterns. A good boss will never want you to feel overworked and exhausted, especially if that’s impacting your job performance.
Leave work on time. Setting boundaries is a good way to achieve a healthy work-life balance. As much as possible, complete all your tasks during working hours, leave on time, and resist the temptation to check work emails/messages that may disrupt your rest.
Do the things you love on your rest days. During your rest days, or even after work, dedicate some time to your favourite activities. These things can be as simple as watching a good movie/series, reading books, or playing games. Doing so can take your mind off work.
Strive to be healthy. Make sure you are giving your body all the nutrients it requires. Are you eating well? Or are you drinking enough water? Do you still sleep 8 hours per day? If you have a desk job, do you make time to exercise outside of work hours? These are the questions that you need to start asking yourself.
Seek help from a professional. If workaholism appears to be a larger problem than you can handle on your own, experts recommend consulting a trained counsellor or therapist. They can help you understand why you’re struggling and provide the resources you need to improve.
Ask yourself if you’re in the right job. All of the tips above would, of course, be useless if you’re in the wrong job and you work in a toxic work environment that encourages workaholism. Whether you stay and follow these tips or find another job, keep in mind that no job is worth putting your health at risk.
Meanwhile, in other news, another employee was left perplexed after he came across Singaporean Redditors who claimed to earn large monthly salaries. He then asked them: “How do you guys even earn 8-10k easily when household income is around 10.8k?”
Read related: Man puzzled by how so many Singaporeans earn “around $8-10K easily”
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