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Are you a Workaholic?  print
By Adeline An
YMG student advisor
Did you spend the holidays with a glass of eggnog in one hand and your BlackBerry in the other? The holidays are a time meant for relaxing but thanks to mobile wonders like the BlackBerry and iPhone, they have also become a time for checking your email on the sly and hoping your family and friends either will not notice or will forgive you. If people at cocktail parties seem to want to leave your conversation and “get another glass of wine” just when you were really getting into telling them about your job, well, you just might be a workaholic.

Workaholics are perceived as people who allocate most of their time to work. The term “workaholic” is usually not a flattering remark. There is nothing like working with someone who is productive.

I have a friend, a Company Secretary by profession, who had a week off work just before end of February. Even so, she checked her email every alternate day to perform some work. She told me that she can’t stressfree until she know that everything is just fine in the office. She is one of the most competent employee and self confessed workaholic I ever knew. There are certain people in the business world that thrive on the things that they are good at. They are motivated by passion, not by money.

People who enjoy their work are indeed a blessed one. Many of us have the potential to truly like going to work, if only our work is something we enjoy doing. Surveys have shown that the main reason employees did not maximize their full potential at work is because they would rather be doing something else, or their personality is more suited to another form of work.

At the end of the day, focusing only on your job is not a good thing. You are not one-dimensional. Your life has many facets: interests and drives which should be developed. Workaholics often unconsciously use work to avoid intimacy. Working long hours can make them feel important.

Realistically, living a balanced life enhances well-being and increases your energy. Being a workaholic is not just about meeting deadlines as we all have deadlines and there are times when work piles up in the office. Deadlines should be a temporary phases. More often that not we heard young working adults complained that they are experiencing the Monday Blues. Would it be nice if we can just skip or beat up the blue Monday? But if Monday got skip, wouldn’t it turn world upside down, things supposed to execute and didn’t get it done?

The new breed of generation, Generation Y often has an opinion on what is NORMAL in their daily life. It is normal for them to watch a movie or even logging into their FaceBook account every second to check out what is being posted in their friends’ wall post. However, it seems not normal to be truly and thoroughly happy going to work.

Work is important in life as we need to provide support for ourselves and our families. Successful work gives us a sense of accomplishment. However, being efficient with time is not the same as being obsessed with time. The reverse is true. If you efficiently manage your time and are focused on getting things done, there is little chance you will end up a workaholic.

Workaholism is counterproductive and missing out on the good things in life. Happy people are not lucky; they just know what makes them happy. What steps can you take to bring more balance into your life? This can be done by incorporating life-enhancing practices into your daily routine, you become more productive and produce better quality work.

Company Secretaries, a highly notable job that can be considered as the backbone of a company tend to end up being labeled a workaholic as we usually held high level of responsibilities including governance structures and mechanisms and to provide advisory on the conduct of business ranging from legal advice on conflicts of interest, financial reports as well as development of strategy to corporate planning.

As such, the best way to overcome your workaholic friends or colleagues is to pull them out of their world! Try to get your colleagues to join in the activities outside the office tasks such as workout in fitness sport club after office hours or even lunch together, etc. If you want time to live an even more enjoyable and meaningful life, why not even considering on the Young MAICSA Group’s activities?

In Young MAICSA Group, we are truly blessed to have the support from MAICSA Council on the opportunities to set up a bulletin board on the Internet for young members to discuss and obtain feedback on issues that may be of concern, to organize tea-talks on issues of interest to younger members, organizing training courses and seminars with guest speakers to aid in the development of leadership skills and enhancing career skills for younger members as well as arranging of sports and charitable activities to instill a sense of belonging, pride and loyalty among these young members.

Would like to know more about Young MAICSA Group? Feel free to call Adeline An @ 016-223 6586/03-2084 9136 or Jason Cheng @ 03-2084 9142. Alternatively, you can email your enquires to YoungMAICSAGroup@ gmail.com.