Hidden overwork is unfortunately a quite common symptom in our society. The stress level rises and you can not relax enough to play at nationalcasino.com.
Keep an eye on the symptoms of work-related overwork and recognize warning signs in time
Keeping busy with work-related tasks outside of the job secures job benefits – but also risks chronic overwork that creeps in quietly and hidden.
It is not just the obvious overwork that results from overtime or the workload in the office, for example. It is also the “hidden tasks” that can lead to overwork: The little things we supposedly do on the side, but disregard the boundaries between free time and work.
The notes we take while on vacation, even though we wanted to relax and enjoy a cocktail on the beach. The blog we read through because it might be important for our new work project, even though it is the weekend and we are relaxing with the kids.
WORK NEVER STOPS
Work outside of work – it has become the standard in our modern working world, where we are constantly online, reachable and up to date. Whether it’s for prestige, to prove something to ourselves, or because we are afraid of showing up at work unprepared and not having a say at lunch. Even if the boss has not asked us to do more, we still want to do it to maybe impress him or her and get the promotion. The reasons why work is with us 24/7 are many and varied:
What difference does the extra work make to us personally?
Does doing extra work give us job security?
Does the extra work give us added value?
Provided we can answer these questions in the affirmative, the psychologist says, the extra effort may actually be worthwhile. At the same time, it is important to know our own limits and not to overdo it.
THE FREE WILL
If we act only out of fear or pressure, and not emotionally out of “free will,” we should ask ourselves whether it is a fundamental problem we are carrying around. This could be, for example, the fear of failure that we feel. Or the comparison with others; the competitive thinking that turns from a healthy driving spirit into an unhealthy power struggle.
Hybrid work environment exacerbates phenomenon of hidden overwork
The things that are supposedly done quickly, which are work-related but creep into our personal lives, are fostered primarily by the conditions of the new world of work.
The time- and location-independent way of working, for example: We know its advantages, such as the freedom and flexibility and self-determination we experience. At the same time, when we live and work this way, we cannot simply “go off”, switch off, come to rest.
The unspoken law of our digital world makes it almost impossible not to feel justified if we just leave everything after work, don’t do any additional to-dos or don’t answer an email. By the time overwork has hit us, it’s usually too late to take preventative action.
How do I recognize that I am overworking myself outside of work hours?
Sad figures on overwork have been published by the WHO. Already in 2016, the issue of work overload cost many lives. For example, around 398,000 people worldwide would have suffered a stroke that they did not survive. Many of those who worked at least 55 hours a week or even more would have died from coronary heart disease.