Working hard and overworking are not the same.

I’m sure you know that intellectually. But trying to do the former and not the latter can sometimes feel like a tightrope walk over a canyon with no safety net. 

Especially if you value being a hard worker. (Which most of us do - or at least think we do, given our socialization that has us tying our self-worth to how much we get done.) The tendency to slip into overwork is high. 

Do you know the difference between working hard and overworking for you personally? 

Because your cues (the ones that should alert you to check in with yourself) aren’t necessarily the same as mine. And your definitions may change in different seasons of your life. 

Our gut instinct is to base that decision on how much we are working. The number of hours. And that can be a factor, but I don’t think it's usually a determining one on its own. 

Because sometimes a 50-hour week feels totally manageable. Sometimes a 30-hour week feels completely unmanageable. 

So what is it for you that differentiates the two? 

Some questions to help you reflect:

Think about a time recently when your week was hectic, but you didn’t feel a lot of overwhelm, anxiety, or exhaustion.

Think about a time recently when your week was really hectic, and you did feel a lot of overwhelm, anxiety, or exhaustion.

What was the difference? 

Was it how much you worked? 

Was it how much you were doing outside of work on top of the workload? 

Was it the number of events you had scheduled in addition to the work? 

Was it the difference between making sure you got enough sleep and not paying attention to your sleep? 

Was it that you made sure to get your workouts in one time but didn’t the other time? 

Was it the difference in the kind of work you were doing or who you were working with? 

Was it the kinds of emotions you felt and how often you felt them? 

Was it the way you were thinking about the work and yourself? 

If you can’t pinpoint the difference, next time you have a busy week, start to create some awareness. 

How did it feel? 

Were you working hard or were you overworking? 

How do you know? 

What worked?

What didn’t?

Do you want to do anything differently moving forward? 

You can’t change something you don’t know is happening! So if you want to stop overworking, start with curiosity.