I’m a passionate person. Whatever I set out to do, I put my heart into it.
I’m also very career-driven. And that drive, combined with my passion, is oft-mistaken to be workaholism.
It is difficult to find the fine line that separates, or differentiates, one from the other. I know, because I am writing this piece to help me process which side of the spectrum I am actually in. Am I really just passionate? Or am I already a workaholic?
So I start out my day thinking about the work on my queue, and end it thinking about the work I will be doing the next day. I spend time on social media sharing and talking about my work, and maintain three other websites that are all connected to work. Are these signs of workaholism?
To some, it may sound and look like it. But I’d still rather say that I am simply committed to what I have set out to do. That I’m just being fair to the people who hired me to make things happen for them, to my husband who thinks I invented virtual assistance, to my children who all look up to me and expect me to be the best virtual assistant there is.
I’d like to believe that workaholism is just compulsive working, and there is nothing compulsive with what I’m doing. I don’t work for the sake of getting so beat I’d fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow. I don’t work for the sake of working. And I don’t take on just any project.
I always start with something I love, something at least I know how to do if not really very good at doing, something I can imagine myself to be happy with long-term. These criteria have to be present simultaneously, or I won’t be doing it at all.
Passion can easily get distorted to compulsivity, if you don’t have a clear purpose, if you are not clear about what your end-goal is. That’s why I still write my goals down, however taboo goalsetting has become to others. A written plan keeps me rooted to my purpose. It keeps me committed. It keeps me motivated.
So I think I’m just passionate. And I want to stay that way.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
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Marge, also known as The Happy WAHM, is a virtual assistant who turned her passion for entrepreneurship into a worthy endeavor of offering complete business solutions to CEOs and business owners around the world. She turned her back on a thriving corporate career to become a hands-on mom and created a lifestyle that allowed her to build a homebased career, homeschool her children, and still have time to pursue her passion for arts and crafting.
She only posts her content on her website, TheHappyWAHM.com. If you see this content on someone else's site then it is NOT by any means authorized.
