Working From Home Is Hazardous To Workaholics

Jan 12th, 2008
by Marsha Maung

I’ve been known for many things in this life time….messy is one, untimely is one, creative is another and also bullheaded! There’s one personality trait that I don’t know whether to consider a vice or a virtue is this….workaholic.

Working at home needs balance
Before I started working from home, everything was fine and dandy. I was working for a Bank in their legal department and I think my boss thought it was real good that I was a workaholic. He got more out of me for less, you see. But in one swift move (more like nine months of thinking during pregnancy), I moved my work space from the bank to the stage and then from the stage to my home. That’s when the transformation took place….and that was when I was supposed to sit down, think about my working from home plan, the environment, work on balancing my life out since I was going to have a new baby to take care of and stuff like that. But no. Being a little bit of a go-getter, I didn’t care what it took for me to make my working from home business a successful one – I didn’t really care and it was a big mistake!

Working from home can be hazardous to workaholics! Don’t say I didn’t warn you because I’ve got anxiety, stress and escalating blood pressure to prove it!

Do a simple checklist to review your work at home time structure and plans
Let’s access why we want to work from home a little, shall we? We want to have more freedom. Check. We want to dictate our own working hours. Check. We want to spend more time with our families and on our own. Er……this is where workaholics have a HUGE problem. A gastronomical problem. Let’s take a look at ‘having the freedom to dictate our own working hours’ a bit – workaholics can now dictate that they work over time because they want to achieve their goals, damn it! Which means that we often get so riled up with working that we forget that we’re at home.

Don't let the line bwteen work and home blur out
The fine line between work and home becomes blurred and even with a small work from home business, things can get frantic when business picks up. Even during those fly-swatting early months, it’s not easy to peel yourself away from work to focus on your family. Your kids could be screaming their heads off because they’re hungry and you’re yelling back, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! Just one more phone call!” And before you know it, one phone call turns into a phone call, an email, and two articles.

Too easy to forget how to step away from work
Why do I say it’s hazardous then? How do working from home people become so imbalanced that it poses as threat to their health or lives? Not knowing where to draw the line between home and work, working at home people are actually, not only neglecting their family members, they neglect themselves! Yes, I hate to admit this but living in Malaysia, I DID go without a shower for days. I won’t say how many days, damn it! But yeah, I was sitting at the computer just writing and writing and writing to meet one deadline after another. I got off the chair to send my kids to school, eat, visit the toilet or maybe answer a couple of phone calls. Apart from those times, you can find me sitting at the computer just writing and writing and writing….building a working from home empire or some sort, some would think!

So, if you’re going to work from home and have the same personality as me, please be warned that working from home can be hazardous for workaholics. Always always always ALWAYS ALWAYS take time off. Get off your butt and answer the kids, play with them, sit around hugging and spending some quality time with them. And don’t neglect yourself.

Remember the initial reason why you’re working from home. That was to spend more time with your family and pay more attention to yourself. Don’t forget that mission.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer who has been writing for for more than 8 years now. She believes that working from home is great but there are precautions to be taken so that workaholics like her don't overdo it....because overdoing things when you're working from home is too easy!

For a better idea on what kind of person Marsha is, visit her website at http://www.marshamaung.com. You might want to her blog out too, while you're at it, for some fun, anecdotal Malaysian insight!