Remember, If You Always Do What You Have Always Done

Being a workaholic is a challenge. It becomes the default setting we return to when life gets tricky or you stop focusing on the life you want. The problem with only using your ability to “focus” is that it requires constant effort and it fails to get to the underlying causes which are usually about the our beliefs.

Let me use a different example, but one where there is a very close parallel - Loosing weight.

Our desire to loose weight drives a multi billion pound industry in the Western world. There are thousands of different diets, books, exercise programmes and videos all giving wonderful advice. They are usually telling us what we already know.

Being a healthy weight is just an equation. Take in more calories than you use in physical activity and you are guaranteed to put on weight. Use more calories through physical activity than you eat and you will loose weight. If it is so simple, why are so many people still significantly overweight?

Many people get as far as buying the product and, by doing so, feel good for a short while because they believe they have at least taken action.

The same principle is true of gym membership. People sign on for a six month or year long membership and buy all the right gear. They go once, or a few times, find it hard or boring, maybe pull a muscle and then give up.

Specialized food is available in thousands of different guises – yet more people in the western world are over weight or clinically obese than at any time in history.

We are being bombarded with information, think of all the TV reality shows showing obese people fighting their flab or makeover programmes where people have radical surgery to address the problem. Is it addressing the problem?

When I talk and work with people who are overweight and get to the heart of the matter, without exception they have a proven track record of being able to lose weight. Indeed many of them have lost their body weight several times over in their lifetime.

The problem does not lie with their ability to lose the pounds. It is about how they feel about themselves and the relationship they have created with food. The issue is how to enjoy food and maintain a healthy weight whilst feeling good about yourself.

How many of you or your close family and friends would recognize the weight cycle below?

Weight Cycle:nn? I feel bad about how I look, I must lose weight!n? I need lots of willpower – I’ll go on a dietn? On a diet – all I can think about is food, it takes over my waking thoughts and most of my conversation outside workn? Lose weight – feel better about men? Life happens – I find the weight creeps back on as soon as I eat normally or I want to feel valued and happy but I don’t – I need comfort so I eat n? The metabolic rate has been altered by being on a diet so I actually put weight on more easilyn? I’ve put weight on again – feel bad about me – what I really need is willpower – I need to go on a different diet.

Does it have to be like that?

No - Once clients change their relationship with themselves and they learn to love and appreciate who they are – wobbly bits and all they can start to create a very different relationship to food and to life.

The result is a healthy lifestyle which is easy to maintain in the long term, a better self image and a healthy emotional approach to food. The weight loss might be somewhat slower but it doesn’t rely on willpower in the same way. They are able to create a life style change which is lasting and doesn’t require a huge investment of willpower.

The principles about changing your work life balance are no different. If you want true fulfillment and a great work life balance, where you feel in control, you need to look at why you are driven to work such long hours.
Think about the benefits of letting work take over your life.
Think of the costs to your health, your sense of wellbeing, your relationships with family and friends of letting work take over your life. What has it cost you?
Think about the balance between the costs and benefits of continuing with your present life.
Does it serve you in the short term? How about over your life as a whole?
How long are you prepared to keep paying the price?
Are you ready to take control of your life?
Take action now – if you need some help, contact us.nnwww.graduatesolutions.co.uknwww.recoveringworkaholics.comnn