Art, obsession, and identity
In The Atlantic article 'Workism is Making Americans Miserable,' Derek Thompson describes "workism" as the "belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one's identity and life's purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work."
Mindset coach Suzy Ashworth told Cosmopolitan that asking yourself reflective questions can help identify whether your personality is being affected by your job. Questions like, "Will getting this promotion make me happier in my workplace?" or "Am I able to be my true self when I'm in the office?" are good places to start.
Whereas professions used to be passed down through families, these days it's more common for people to go to school and choose a career path of their own, so we started to take jobs as markers of identity. Think of the question we ask kids: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life,"—we've all heard it before. Though it's good to enjoy the thing that takes up countless hours of your week, this phrase can quickly become dangerous as it so closely links your job with your identity.
Numbers don't lie! Take note of how many hours you work versus how many hours you spend with your loved ones or on self-care (running errands and doing chores doesn't count).
In the age of social media, we see curated versions of our peers online, which often just show the highlights of how hard they're working, and we feel like we have to compete. But this comparison has been shown to be terrible for our mental health—not to mention our work-life balance.
Whether you're taking on extra shifts or more clients, or answering emails over the weekend to get ahead, it feels like an easy logical conclusion to say that you're working more so you can enjoy life later. But once you let work take over your life, it's hard to get off the wheel.
Numerous studies have also found that most people in the US work overtime, and that is especially true of people who are trying to "do what they love." That only makes it even more difficult to separate who you are from what you do.
When you're overworked, you are actually less productive because you're likely sacrificing the restfulness that contributes to clearer thinking, better solutions, and more efficient work.
In the age of 'hustle' culture, people wear their extra work like a badge of honor, as if who gets up the earliest and works the latest is somehow going to automatically get ahead of everyone else.
"The danger of your self-worth being dependent on your work is the fragility it introduces to your well-being," Ben Douch, psychotherapist and Counselling Directory member, told Yahoo! Finance. "How you feel about yourself becomes contingent on the success of your work—'as long as I am seen as competent, receiving approval, and comparing favorably to others THEN I will feel good.'"
This is also one of the fastest ways to burn out, since people will push themselves to greater lengths because their identity depends on proving themselves to others.
Consistently striving for external validation results in stress, burnout, and exhaustion, which impacts both physical and mental health, and can lead to detachment from work—which then feels like detachment from your own identity.
When you don't have an identity separate from work, you're more susceptible to depressive or anxious symptoms when work inevitably has its off days.
Think of it like a building: you can't rest the whole structure on just one pillar or else it will tumble. You should establish and fortify several other pillars, including the following.
Kelly Hearn, co-founder of Examined Life, told Cosmopolitan that it's important to find other loves in our lives outside of our career, and to nurture them equally.
Even if you're single, this still applies! Having meaningful relationships with friends, partners, and family members can actually make up several pillars of your identity.
Fear not if you are someone who glamorizes the grind and feels that your identity is strongly intertwined with your occupation. It's likely that this identification helped you along at some point, and you don't have to do anything drastic to see healthy changes.
These days, everyone is trying to turn their hobbies into side-gigs, but there are some things that should be just for yourself. Though it might seem difficult, you should schedule time into your week to do something you enjoy: maybe it's a pottery class, or a swim, or reading a book.
This is not a career goal, but rather a larger engine that drives your work goals along with your personal and family goals. It's what you want to feel you've achieved at the end of your life, and it will center you and keep you focused on your true identity.
This is one of the biggest problems we face as the lines become increasingly blurred between our jobs and our identities. Make your work hours known and be strict about clocking out.
This is another great way to set physical boundaries, especially since our phones being on us all the time is part of the reason we are working overtime. Turn your computer and phone off or lock them away after your hours are up.
When we are healthy, have good self-esteem, and are enjoying our lives, we naturally perform better. We don't need to indulge in distractions, we don't need so many sick days, and we can focus better in shorter amounts of time.
We're all going to experience things out of our control, but resilience will make the difference in how we handle it. "Resilient people have an inherent sense of trust in themselves, and are able to take a broader perspective of their lives," psychotherapist Ben Douch explains. "This form of psychological flexibility cannot be attained through narrowly placing your worth on an external part of your life."
Your work is a part of you, but it is not wholly representative of who you are or what you're worth. Start separating them now so that any future changes to work won't lead to an identity crisis.
Sources: (BBC) (The Atlantic) (Psychology Today) (Harvard Business Review) (Cosmopolitan) (Yahoo Finance) (Voucher Cloud)
See also: Is the five-day workweek outdated? Here's what's next
We can really learn a lot about who we are when we give ourselves time with literally nothing to do. Of course, this takes some practice, since most people have long been in the cult of productivity, but giving yourself the time for genuine relaxation can be a chance for you to reintroduce yourself to yourself.
Most people who are working too much are also neglecting their health. Notice that almost every piece of advice you'll ever hear about maintaining your health involves getting away from work, moving your body, and stilling the mind—it's no coincidence.
When someone asks you who you are, what do you say? Most people respond with what they do as a job.
Having passion for what you do is great, but it’s all too easy in a capitalist society to conflate your self-worth with the way in which you make money. It can be dangerous to attach your identity to your job for numerous reasons, however, and it can actually be hurting your career as opposed to helping it.
Click through to find out why you should separate your identity from work, and some easy tips on how to do it.
Be the difference you want to see in the world and when starting a conversation with someone, ask them what their hobbies are or what the last film they really enjoyed was instead of what they do for a job.
Oftentimes when we meet people the first thing we do is ask: "So, what do you do?" We center jobs in conversation as some sort of identifier about who we are.
How and why you should separate your identity from work
It’ll benefit your well-being and advance your career
LIFESTYLE Work-life
When someone asks you who you are, what do you say? Most people respond with what they do as a job.
Having passion for what you do is great, but it’s all too easy in a capitalist society to conflate your self-worth with the way in which you make money. It can be dangerous to attach your identity to your job for numerous reasons, however, and it can actually be hurting your career as opposed to helping it.
Click through to find out why you should separate your identity from work, and some easy tips on how to do it.