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Ryan Healy is a recent college graduate. He is a founder of 
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It all started at the dinner table when I was 10. That’s when I first remember listening to my parents talk work. They discussed meetings, deadlines, hiring’s and firing’s. It wasn’t the typical dinner conversation where Dad asks, “How was work?” And mom replies, “Oh it was good.”
No, it was down and dirty. They held nothing back. They coached each other, they argued about how one of them made a bad decision in a particular situation, and they openly shared the information with my brother and me.
I saw the passion they had for their work. I saw that they woke up every morning for more than a paycheck and brought their work to the dinner table because they cared, not because someone told them to.
These days, I’ve joined the work conversation. My calls home usually revolve around business. I tell my father about launch dates and prospective speaking or consulting gigs. He tells me about the new position he needs to fill and the fundraising dinner he hosted the other night. I tell my mother about the interesting dynamics of working in a start-up. And she tells me about all the craziness that comes from overseeing a big corporate merger.
The problem is, I’ve become increasingly worried that I’m turning into a workaholic. I work most of the day, and then I work after dinner. I find myself daydreaming about something work related during a movie. I was in San Francisco for my cousins wedding last weekend. I definitely enjoyed myself, but I couldn’t help but work a few hours each day.
The fact is, my life revolves around work. But according to Seth Godin, I’m not a workaholic. I’m just lucky enough to be a part of a new class of worker.
“A workaholic lives on fear. It’s fear that drives him to show up all the time. The best defense, apparently, is a good attendance record.
A new class of jobs (and workers) is creating a different sort of worker, though. This is the person who works out of passion and curiosity, not fear.
The passionate worker doesn’t show up because she’s afraid of getting in trouble, she shows up because it’s a hobby that pays. The passionate worker is busy blogging on vacation… because posting that thought and seeing the feedback it generates is actually more fun than sitting on the beach for another hour. The passionate worker tweaks a site design after dinner because, hey, it’s a lot more fun than watching TV.
It was hard to imagine someone being passionate about mining coal or scrubbing dishes. But the new face of work, at least for some people, opens up the possibility that work is the thing (much of the time) that you’d most like to do. Designing jobs like that is obviously smart. Finding one is brilliant.”
Since corporations took over many years ago, work has been just that, work. Today, it can be something far different. Today, the smartest corporations are designing jobs that people can be passionate about, and the smartest people are tirelessly searching for those jobs or creating their own because they know that the right job can be a gift.
When you find that work you’re passionate about, you will discuss it at the dinner table, you will leave the beach an hour early to write that blog post and you will answer a quick email during a movie. You’ll do all of this not because you‘re a workaholic, you’ll do it because you can’t imagine doing anything else.
So, what’s your passion?
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WOW! I found this post and it describes my feeeling also. I am obsessive about what I do Team Training and Leadership Development to the point that I am constantly tweeking my site, writing articles, reading blogs, and LOVING IT!!! THis job allows me to get paid to do my hobby and gain skills while teaching myself and learning from others.
This passion is something that is “new, and scary” to some people.
Reading comments tracking who was on your site reading 10 books and development, leadership, team growth etc..
Great post!!
I can definitely see the issue of passion vs. fear. Right now, my passion lies outside my work, and I fulfill it by writing for “freebie” websites so I can continue to hone my craft and hopefully eventually end up in a job where I can do something I love and get paid for it. I think a lot of people become workaholics by taking jobs they don’t necessarily want, but because it was available, and then get so caught up in climbing the ladder they just perpetuate the misery. I always wonder why people who hate their jobs think it’ll be any better if they get promoted. In some rare cases things may get better, but if you aren’t already happy, all you’ll be after a promotion is unhappy with more responsibility and politics.
Ryan, I think yours is a clear case of passion, as your heart (at least seems to be) in making this venture of yours work. Obviously it’s not always fun, but if what you’re doing gives you a true sense of satisfaction and you’re taking joy in your work, then I say never feel bad about how much you do.
I always worry about this too. I think I am a workaholic either way, whether I’m doing something I’m passionate about or not.
The people that would read this blog are still exceptions to our generation, and I think we forget that self-selection plays a big part in the twentysomethings you would meet online who are writing about and doing great things. It’s not representative of our generation, unless you segment just the educated yuppies.
There are still people who work to live - over half the population (at least). To them, we are workaholics, not passionate workers.
Ryan,
I disagree the definition of “workaholic.” The way I see things, the workaholic hides from life by consuming himself/herself with work. He or she clings to work as a lifeline, fearing to venture into his/her own private arena.
Separately, there’s the prisoner of success. The prisoner of success has little time for a private life because he/she craves the excitement and pressure of having a full plate at work. He or she loves the importance of the job and the money it brings. However, the prisoner of success feels overwhelmed and detached most of the time.
If one is neither of these things, it’s possibly that you find happiness, fulfillment, and meaning in your chosen work.
Perhaps this post will interest you: www.slowdownfast.com/blog/driven-to-succeed-prisoner-of-success-workaholic-or-someone-who-cant-say-no/
I think the “new type of worker” can still be a workaholic but not consider work “work,” because they are passionate about it.
Thoughts?
I think you guys may be right that a passionate worker can still be a workaholic. The real difference is whether you perceive caring about your work (and perhaps being a workaholic) as a bad thing or a good thing. It’s a bad thing if totally neglect other parts of life like family, friends, fun and relaxation. its completely acceptable to work at night instead of watching two hours of TV or work for a couple of hours on vacation because your work gives you a sense of purpose, passion or excitement.
Also, as Monica mentions, this sense of thinking is not all-encompassing. It only applies to those of us who are lucky enough to get an education and those of us lucky enough to know what we’re passionate about. If your sole passion is your family or free time then working to live is what you should do. But if your passion is anything that can be turned into a career, and you have the education, skills and drive to do it, why not make it your career and live to work?
Dan - Great point, when does work not become work? The best example I can think of is Tim Ferriss who wrote “The Four Hour Work Week.” In his book he discusses not spending more than a couple of hours a week working, outsourcing your life etc. But somehow he found the time to write a New York Times Bestseller and keep up a blog on a daily basis. Both of these things take an incredible amount of time. So does he consider this not to be work because he enjoys it?
-Ryan
I am where I am right now because of a heated cell phone discussion on my way home from work. I was discussing, in great detail, the merits and challenges of privatizing the city’s education system and other policy alternatives with a friend.
My first thought was, “We are such dorks.”
Then I started to wonder why I was continuing to work in a communications position that I cared very little about when my passion was obviously elsewhere and tried to figure out how my career path had gotten so far off the mark.
So I decided to quit and start grad school to study public policy and the moment I made the decision I felt like I was being truer to myself than I had been in a long time.
Moral of the story: If there’s something you can’t stop talking about in the evening, that’s probably where you should be spending your days.
@Jacqui
This is a homerun comment….it’s good to use people’s feedback as well…they will let you know what you’re passionate about just by your tone of voice
To me, you become a workaholic when you’re so dedicated to work that it begins affecting other aspects of your life negatively. Sounds like you’re still managing to have fun doing other things, even if you’re occasionally thinking about work while doing so.
I don’t think it’s a time issue, as much as it is a resources issue. For me, I have a job that I leave at the office when I go home. I check my email from home occasionally, but that’s about it. On the other hand, I do system networking and server configuration for fun (i.e. not getting paid) and spend more time doing that.
Either way, if I’m missing out on the important things (my wife & son, friends, etc), then it’s a problem. If I spend 3 hours writing an ASP script as opposed to watching a television show, it’s no big deal.
There isn’t work and life, just “what’s next?”.
There are times in your life when what you do for your job will require 95% of your energy and resources and other times where your relationships will require 95% of your energy and resources (while putting in eight hours at work..).
I think it is much easier to be passionate about that which you have some control and influence in your life — like starting a company, figuring out how that all works, getting it off the ground. Being passionate at a corporate position is much tougher — as soon as you get into a position that is your passion, your manager changes or the department does a reorganization and what you were so passionate about gets complicated real fast.
If you are a solo entrepreneur or building a company, it’s easier to be passionate and work the long hours needed. And, truth be told, many people enjoy work, entrepreneur or not. But if you are in a corporate position and working all those hours, be careful. It’s much harder to tie passion to the job.
Ryan — what you are feeling and doing are right on the money. Take your energy and build. The rest will come.
Ryan,
I can’t help but relate to you. As I have started engaging heavily with my career path, I have been unable to think about much else. I think that fear is simply the spark that starts us off. And it’s the very real fear of not fulfilling our potential. Those of us who work to live, feel greatest when we feel like we have accomplished something. It becomes an addiction.
My father was always something of a workaholic, and until I was twenty years old, I never understood why. Now I know that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, and some of us are determined to be well fed. We understand that if we don’t persist in working constantly, we may fall behind the curve, and we fear that above all else.
Amidst this, however, as we hike to stay above the curve, we DECIDE what we want to pursue. Thus, we find ourselves passionate about our career, as it is something that appeals to us.