Did you ever consider that your work is killing you? If you are overworking, it might be true. Yes, I know that It is common for entrepreneurs to expect themselves as well as employees to put in long days, respond to emails at all hours, and spend off-hours without complaining. However, have you experienced any of these thoughts or behaviors lately?:

I'm not in control of my work
I'm less physically active because I'm at work so much
I'm more tired and exhausted lately
I find myself getting no more or maybe less done despite all the extra hours
I've been drinking more to unwind from long days of work

If you answered yes to two or more of the above questions, you may be on your way to the kind of increased stress that could render you more susceptible to stroke. Just this week, the medical journal Lancet published results of an analysis of more than half a million men and women studied over seven years from the United States, Australia, Israel, and eight European countries. Those who worked at least 55 hours per week had stroke risk increased 33%, with slightly lower increases for hours over 40 but less than 55. In case you say that no one works that long, take note that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that 11.3% of workers in the United States worked at least 50 hours per week.

If working overly long has so many bad outcomes such as stress, stroke, exhaustion, potential alcohol abuse, poorer performance, among others, why do you do it? There are multiple psychological reasons:

Ambition
Greed
Anxiety
Guilt
Pride
Desire to prove we're important
Overdeveloped sense of duty

The above list is not exhaustive and there are some studies indicating that for some people work is less stressful than our home lives. Given the above risks, the other question is: Does all this overwork even work for you? Are you really getting more done?

There’s a large body of research consistent with the conclusion that regardless of your reasons for working long hours, overwork does not help you. There are studies indicating that overwork doesn't result in more productivity. As mentioned earlier, overwork leads to all kinds of problems:

Health problems
Absenteeism
Turnover
Rising health costs
Impaired communication and judgment
More mistakes because of fatigue or exhaustion

There actually is a reason why the work week was shortened to eight hours per day during the 19th century and one of the positive outcomes was that productivity increased and mistakes and accidents decreased.

So what can you do? Wouldn't you like to be more productive with less work? In working with thousands of individuals in corporate, military, and healthcare settings, I have found that one of the main reasons I consistently get increased productivity for the many individuals and organizations with whom I’ve worked is helping them clear out mental clutter. If your limiting thoughts get in the way (e.g. "I don't need time away, that's weak or lack of dedication"), then consider that changing those thoughts or getting the help to do so will improve your life. As I noted earlier, often your deep-seated psychological needs and accompanying unhelpful belief systems get in the way of your taking care of yourself. Wouldn't you like to change this. Wouldn't you feel better if you did. Well, you can.

Dr. Paul G. Longobardi

For other valuable information on team and leadership development as well as managing stress:

www.successandmindset.com (particularly recent post on Productivity and Taking Time Off)