How to Be a Workaholic and Still Have a Life

Being a workaholic is a good way to ruin a marriage, hide from loneliness, not be an involved parent and die young. Here are 10 tips for you to be a workaholic and also have a life.

1. It's easy to get caught up working too many hours especially when you feel pressure from your boss to bring in more business during an economic recession. It's not usually the number of hours that you work - it's the results. Clarify exactly how much business you are responsible for bringing in. Before you leave make a list of what you need to do tomorrow. Be extremely organized. If you can, schedule which evenings you will be working late and coordinate that with your families activities. If your son plays ball on Wednesdays keep that an early night.

2. Take a good hard look at the family budget. Do you even have a budget? If not, make one. You may find that if you spend wiser you may need less money and can leave the office a little earlier then you have been.

3. Examine your priorities. You want to be successful and support your family well but it won't matter much if you wind up coming home to an empty house. If your work schedule is affecting your marriage then you both need to decide what is most important to you and make some changes in your life style so that you can find time for each other.

4. Being a workaholic may actually be a good indication that your marriage is already in trouble and rather than going home you are creating work and staying overtime to avoid going home. If that's the case the time away will only increase the distance you and your spouse are experiencing and the marriage will be doomed to failure. Make the time to go into counseling and let a professional help you work on your problems instead of working alone in the office.

5. Sometimes it's possible to include your spouse in your work. That may help you to spend more time together. Be creative and find a way for them to participate in the tasks. You may be surprised and find out that two heads are better than one.

6. Schedule vacations and really take them. This gives you both something to look forward to and also gives you quality time together. Unless you really do work together accompanying your spouse on a business trip may lead to disaster. You will want attention and they want to work. Save the joint travel time for a real vacation. If money is tight you don't have to go far but don't stay home. You will keep working. You both need a change of scenery.

7. Cell phones are the most difficult gadget to put down when you are a workaholic. If you have a work phone give it to someone else who knows how to get in touch with you but also respects your need to get away. They can call you if there really is an emergency and you need to trust that they will. The only cell phone you should have is the one that your kids will use to call you if they need you. Your trusted office mate can use that number too.

8. No matter how busy your day gets try to touch base with your spouse during the day at least once to say hello. It helps to know that even though you are busy you are thinking of them. And if you really aren't thinking of them because you are so busy us the alarm feature in that cell phone you never put down to remind you to make the call. Your spouse doesn't need to know you use that little helper to remember.

9. Never forget birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions. Again you can use your phone to help you remember. Your spouse will always feel that you took the time away from work to think of something that they would like and buy it. It shows you care about them and their feelings. Buy the gift on time and don't need to be reminded. And don't let your secretary chose the gift. Your spouse will know and the gift will have no meaning to them at all.

10. And last, make a conscious effort to set a time that you won't work past and leave the office at that time not matter what. You need your rest in order to do your best and you can be sure the work will still be there waiting for you tomorrow. If you get sick and can't work nothing will get done. So slow down just a little. You are the only one who can control how you manage your life. So, if you want to have one stop making excuses and make it a priority to find the time way from work and enjoy the reason that your are working so hard.