You may take pride in responding quickly or taking on additional tasks at work. In the early stages of your career, your dedication will pay off. You develop a reputation for being ambitious and hardworking.
For the past 15 years, I’ve coached top performers at some of the world’s largest companies, including Google, Meta, Apple, and JP Morgan. Many of them wear the “Trusted Workhorse” label as a badge of honor. They are the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave, and often measure their success by how indispensable they become.
But as a licensed social worker and professor of human behavior, I also know that this kind of effort can slowly turn into an obsession. Workaholism is defined as a combination of working excessively and compulsively. An extensive review of 53 studies found that around 14% of workers may suffer from workaholicism, a condition in which they put in extraordinary effort beyond what is necessary and find it difficult to relax and mentally disconnect.
The current employment environment has created a situation where people feel they need to push their limits to survive their careers. U.S. employers announced more than 573,000 layoffs in the first nine months of 2026, following more than 1.2 million job cuts announced in 2025, with hiring plans reaching their lowest level in September since 2011. Meanwhile, Microsoft found that 80% of the world’s workforce lacks time or energy to work, but 53% of leaders still said they needed to be more productive.
The pressure to accomplish more with less can tempt you to log longer hours, take on additional responsibilities, and always remain available. In an October 2025 Monster survey of 807 employees, 76% of full-time workers said they consider themselves at least somewhat workaholics.
Don’t wait to change this pattern. Be aware now, talk to your doctor or mental health professional, and start building a healthier relationship with your career. Here are three important signs to look out for and how to deal with them.
1. You have a hard time celebrating victories.
You might feel better for a few hours after finishing a big project or receiving positive feedback from your boss. But soon your brain jumps to the thought, “What’s next?”
You crave another task as a source of validation to feel accomplished. Over time, fewer achievements are recorded and satisfaction levels are lower.
What you can do
Combine success with reflection. Take time to find meaning in the situation before rushing to the next thing.
Don’t just look back at what went well or ruminate about what didn’t. Instead, stop treating your accomplishments as flukes by considering your wins, big and small, as validation of your skills.
For example, let’s say you lead a presentation for a difficult client and your recommendation is approved. Instead of thinking, “I was lucky because they were in a good mood,” ask yourself, “What did I do that contributed to that outcome?” Perhaps you anticipated opposition or shared a well-researched plan. Now, instead of “that meeting just happened to go well,” it’s “I know how to build buy-in with skeptical stakeholders.”
Research shows that when you reflect on your experiences and connect them to your identity, you build a more stable sense of competence and are less likely to keep striving to prove yourself.
2. Work affects your mood
When you’re doing well at work, you feel more confident and energized. However, if a project goes through a rough patch or you receive negative comments, you can easily become emotionally unstable. When so much of your self-worth comes from your work, even small setbacks can feel like a threat, which can lead you to repeat the conversation or attack someone you care about.
What you can do
End-of-day rituals help mentally separate work and home life.
My customers love the backpack strategy. Imagine pouring your stress into an imaginary backpack, shrugging it off and leaving it in the corner of your room for the night.
Taking a shower, changing your clothes, and lighting a candle after work can also create a change of pace. Personally, when the TV turns on, that’s my cue to switch to personal time.
3. Taking a vacation doesn’t reduce your anxiety; it increases it.
People who are workaholics or who are on the path to becoming one often view taking time off as irresponsible.
You finally get the vacation you’ve been dreaming of, but instead of relaxing, you’re restless and start checking your email to “stay on top of things.” Even downtime on the weekends feels ignored.
As a result, your mind is always looking for the next project to tackle or problem to solve, and you get distracted while playing with your family or disrupting your sleep. Even when you’re “off,” you may never fully recover and feel constantly fatigued. In the long run, this can have a negative impact on your relationships as well as your well-being.
What you can do
Before you start your day or work block, define what “enough” means. For example, you might decide to complete slides 1 through 10 and reply to your boss. If you don’t plan ahead, you risk negotiating with yourself to only do one more thing or give yourself one more hour.
Pursue activities that motivate you to step away from work. One of my clients started flower arranging, and another started scheduling lunches with old friends. These were things they enjoyed and looked forward to, which made it easier to resist the temptation to get “one more task” done.
You can approach your work with passion without feeling drained by it. People who invest in multiple interests and develop a more complex sense of self tend to be less affected by stress or failure in one area of their lives. And ambition feels rewarding again when work becomes a meaningful part of your life, rather than your entire sense of self.
Melody Wilding, LMSW, is an executive coach, professor of human behavior, and author of Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge. Get her free training “5 Steps to Speak Like a Senior Leader” here.
