Confessions of a workaholic: Is it time we gave laziness a much-needed rebrand?

Is it about time we give ourselves more space to be lazy? (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

It is a very sad thing for me to admit, but I am a self-confessed workaholic.

When I’m not sat at my laptop furiously filing features, I’m listening to podcasts for inspiration, or testing ideas out on my friends in the pub.

My brain ticks like a metronome, swinging from one idea to another while I keep my hands busy tapping out all my work thoughts and to do lists. The prospect of not being occupied is tortuous.

Believe it or not, this is me being relatively relaxed. In my last job, I would freelance on top of my full-time work. I was constantly chained to my desk: scrolling, searching, typing.

This is not a misguided busy-brag disguised as an article. I am certainly not alone in my addiction to rising and grinding, with the proliferation of hustle culture now widespread in society. New research has found over 5.2 million Brits have taken second, or even third jobs, that eat into their free time. Meanwhile, one in five people have turned their hobbies into side hustles. 

While it’s important to note the cost of living context, not all of this adoption of work is purely for financial gain: you only need to look at the ‘leavism’ phenomenon – people taking annual leave to purely to catch up on work – to point towards a society with worrying attitudes towards work and being overworked.

The working world has evolved far beyond the 9-5 job Dolly Parton was so dismissive of. 

The coronavirus pandemic revolutionised how and where to make a living, particularly if our roles are office-based. Hybrid working is now increasingly more popular; it’s thought 56% of us now choose to work from. And it has obvious benefits – saving money on travel and aiding childcare costs – but it can also blur the boundaries between workspaces and living spaces.

With smartphones having access to multiple email accounts, some people may constantly feel they’re on the clock long past they’ve shut their laptop, particularly if they’re receiving the dreaded ‘ding’ of an alert outside working hours.

Being all work and no play is having a far more worrying impact than making us dull boys. Working hard to the point of exhaustion is applauded by LinkedIn corporate bros and girlbosses, but it’s having a scary effect on our mental health: it’s little surprise that nearly four out of five workers have suffered burnout, while depression and anxiety continues to rise.

This is how you will find me pretty much 90% of the time (Picture: Supplied)

In my case, if I’m not spending even a minute of my day doing something productive, I feel a crushing sense of guilt and can even feel physically anxious.

It doesn’t necessarily even have to be my actual job either. Even once I’ve shut my laptop for the day, I find myself looking for pointless busywork – giving the floor a quick once-over with a vacuum, Googling nights out for a few weeks time. I’m a ball of nervous energy, looking for something – anything – to do rather than sit and be alone with my thoughts.

My antsy feelings about being unproductive is linked to perfectionism, rather than fear of reprimand, according to Dr Elena Touroni, a consultant psychologist and co-founder of The Chelsea Psychology Clinic. 

‘Perfectionists misinterpret their value as being based on external factors, as opposed to understanding that they are valuable simply because they are human,’ she explains.

‘At the heart of most perfectionists is a deep fear of disapproval and of not being “good enough”. In our always-on culture, it has sadly become one of our most accepted vulnerabilities, and so it is sometimes hard for someone to see the price they are paying in the other areas of their life.’

Dr Touroni adds a refusal to rest can lead to substantial health problems in the long term.

It’s societal pressure that we have to be productive all the time, but it’s a deeply unhealthy way to be constantly

‘If we’re always-on and not getting adequate rest, we can end up living in survival mode,’ she says.

‘Downtime is essential. Simply put, we can’t pour from an empty cup. Rest is restorative and it’s how we “top up” our energy bank.’

There’s also the need to find time to help our brains process the onslaught of information around us. It is thought that, the average brain processes 74 gigabytes of information in a day – the equivalent amount a highly educated person would have received in an entire lifetime 500 years ago. Not having the space to absorb this influx of knowledge can be detrimental to our cognitive function.

‘Processing time is so important,’ Dr Sandi Mann, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Central Lancashire explains. ‘When we don’t allow rest time to process, we’re not able to problem solve. This, in turn, can make us feel more stressed, and can send our blood pressure rocketing. That can then see people turn to unhealthy crutches to cope, such as cigarettes, drugs or alcohol.

‘It’s societal pressure that we have to be productive all the time but it’s a deeply unhealthy way to be constantly.’

Dr Mann says people need to take things more slowly in order to give their brain time to process – so I tried yoga (Picture: Supplied)

High blood pressure and a penchant for cigarettes is not something that appeals. So, I decided to perform the tiniest form of rebellion I possibly could afford and give myself a week just doing nothing work-related. No checking emails. No features brainstorming. No pointless busywork.

How much downtime we each need varies between person to person, and it can be a tough balance to strike.

‘We all have an optimal level of rest that we need,’ Dr Mann explains. ‘That’s why some people can get more bored and more restless than others at different times. If you have a certain amount of stimulation your brain needs and you’re not getting it, you’ll feel boredom, if you’re getting too much of it, you’ll be overwhelmed.

‘Like most things in life, it’s about finding a balance.’

It was somewhat intimidating to think about filling all this free time I suddenly had, but I tried to remind myself that the whole point was I didn’t have to fill it with anything all.

As Dr Mann explained, it wasn’t necessarily trying things to do, but giving the brain time to decompress.

‘The key to downtime is letting your mind wander,’ she says. ‘You need to be able to daydream.’

There was a small collection of books I needed to get cracking on (Picture: Supplied)

Dr Mann continues: ‘The first thing you can do if you’re a Type A personality is to slow down. Slow down your walking, eating and talking. That will force your brain to take more time too.

‘Put your computer and phone away and out of reach so you’re not tempted to leap back into work mode.’

Meanwhile, Dr Touroni recommended finding an activity for me to enjoy, no matter how silly.

‘Something that’s personally nourishing to you,’ she says. ‘It could be yoga, it could be reading a chapter of your favourite books.’

So with my boyfriend dutifully hiding my laptop and my phone banged up in the bedroom, I lit a scented candle and started devouring books at a speed I hadn’t done since the pandemic. The small library’s worth I’d amassed, gathering dust as I chose to work instead of read, started to be whittled down.

As I poured through indie novels and massive best-sellers, I would start to feel those familiar pangs of guilt. Dr Mann’s words echoed in my ears.

‘If it’s urgent, they will find a way to contact you,’ she said. ‘Otherwise, it can wait until morning.’

It was nice to spend that precious week in different worlds – dystopic near-futures fashioned by Kazuo Ishiguro  and the razor sharp but sad gilded cage of Meg Mason. Within a few days of simply lying down, reading and not thinking about work, I felt significantly less pent up. I found myself thinking more clearly when I wasn’t being caught up on the latest Twitter discourse about something inane and pointless, or scrolling through the Instagram accounts of girls I hated at school. 

Dr Mann is eager that more and more people should assert their boundaries to keep their work and home lives separate.

It was nice to be able to sit with a book and not think about work (Picture: Supplied)

‘People should be allowed to switch off,’ she says. ‘Regular digital detoxes should be essential. People deserve to be able to take a break.’

It’s hard to change the habits of a lifetime – particularly when we’re taught from a young age that hard work reaps rewards and being busy is something to be admired.

However, you only need to take a cursory look at the ongoing crises happening in the UK to see that hard work, quite plainly, doesn’t pay. NHS workers work intense hours for very low wages, and are now on the picket-lines for better conditions and fairer salaries. Numerous other industries, feeling overworked and underpaid, are also preparing to strike, with no end in sight to disruption.

A week away from my laptop taught me it’s simply not worth pouring so much of myself into being constantly busy. Instead, to use more tiresome internet parlance, it’s important to touch grass and enjoy precious time away from the noise and the buzz we’re constantly encouraged to lean into.

I wouldn’t say I’m entirely cured from my workaholism, but that week did help me establish some healthier habits which I’m hoping to maintain throughout 2023.

More: Lifestyle

Dr Mann explains that in this world where being constantly busy is en vogue, perhaps we should change the way a little laziness is marketed to make it more appealing.

‘It’s almost as if it needs a rebrand,’ she says. ‘You need to see productivity in a different way, such as that walk or that time staring at the clouds as being productive towards problem solving.

‘Maybe downtime is the wrong term. Maybe we should it call it processing time – giving us space and time to truly appreciate the world around us.’

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‘Maybe downtime is the wrong term’