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You might pride yourself on responding quickly or taking on extra assignments at work. Early in your career that dedication gets rewarded. You build a reputation for being ambitious and hardworking.
For the last 15 years, I’ve coached high achievers at some of the world’s biggest companies, including Google, Meta, Apple and JPMorgan. Many of them wear the “reliable workhorse” label as a badge of honor. They’re the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave, and they often measure their success by how indispensable they’ve become.
But as a licensed social worker and human behavior professor, I also know that this kind of commitment can slowly tip into a compulsion. Workaholism is defined as a combination of working excessively and compulsively. A large-scale review of 53 studies found that roughly 14% of workers may struggle with workaholism, putting in extraordinary effort beyond what’s necessary and finding it difficult to relax or mentally disconnect.
The current job climate is creating conditions where pushing past your limits may feel necessary for career survival. U.S. employers announced over 573,000 job cuts in the first nine months of 2026 — following over 1.2 million announced cuts in 2025 — and September hiring plans hit their lowest level since 2011. Meanwhile, Microsoft found that 80% of the global workforce lacks the time or energy to do their jobs, yet 53% of leaders said productivity needs to increase.
The pressure to do more with less can make it tempting to log longer hours, take on additional responsibilities and remain constantly available. Seventy-six percent of full-time workers said they consider themselves at least somewhat of a workaholic in an October 2025 survey of 807 employees by Monster.
Don’t wait to change this pattern. Catch it now, consult your doctor or a mental health professional and start building a healthier relationship with your career. Here are three key signs to watch for — and how to address them.
1. You struggle to celebrate wins
You might feel good for a few hours after finishing a big project or getting positive feedback from your boss. But pretty soon your brain jumps to “What’s next?”
You crave another task as a source of validation to feel accomplished. Over time, achievements become less satisfying because they barely register.
What you can do
Pair successes with reflection. Before you rush to the next thing, carve out time to find meaning in the situation.
Don’t just review what went well or ruminate on what didn’t. Instead, consider what the win, however big or small, proves about your skills so you can stop treating your achievement as a fluke.
For example, say you led a difficult client presentation and your recommendation was approved. Rather than thinking “I got lucky that they were in a good mood,” consider “What did I do that contributed to that outcome?” Maybe you anticipated objections or shared a well-researched plan. Now the takeaway becomes “I know how to build buy-in with skeptical stakeholders” rather than “That meeting happened to go well.”
When you reflect on experiences and connect them to your identity, research finds, you build a more stable sense of competence and will be less likely to keep working to prove yourself.
2. Work dictates your mood
When work is going well, you feel confident and energized. But as soon as a project hits a rough patch or a critical comment comes your way, your emotional state tanks. You may replay conversations and snap at people you care about because when so much of your self-worth comes from work, even a small setback can feel like a threat.
What you can do
An end-of-day ritual can help create mental separation between your work and home life.
My clients love the backpack strategy: Imagine placing your stress into an imaginary backpack that you shrug off and leave in the corner overnight.
Taking a shower, changing your clothes or lighting a candle after work can also create a transition. Personally, when the TV goes on, that’s my cue to switch to personal time.
3. Time off makes you more anxious, not less
Workaholics and those on that path often equate rest with irresponsibility.
You finally take that vacation you’ve been dreaming of, but instead of relaxing you feel restless and begin checking email to “stay on top of things.” Even weekend downtime feels neglectful.
As a result, your mind is always searching for the next project to tackle or problem to solve, distracting you while hanging out with family or keeping you from sleeping. Even when you’re “off,” you never fully recover and may feel consistently exhausted. In the long run, this can negatively affect your relationships as well as your well-being.
What you can do
Before you dive in at the beginning of a day or work block, define what “enough” means. For example, you might decide: “I’ll finish slides one through 10 and respond to my boss.” Without that pre-planning, you risk negotiating with yourself to do just one more thing or devote just one more hour.
Pursue activities that will motivate you to step away from work. One of my clients took up flower arranging while another started scheduling lunches with old friends. Because these were things they enjoyed and looked forward to, it became easier for them to resist the pull of knocking out “just one more task.”
You can be passionate about your work without letting it consume you. People who invest in multiple interests and develop a more complex sense of self tend to be less affected when one area of life gets stressful or goes poorly. And when work becomes one meaningful part of your life instead of your entire sense of self, ambition feels rewarding again.
Melody Wilding, LMSW is an executive coach, human behavior professor 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.
