Tell the truth: In seeking to manage your sales staff, do you find yourself slipping into workaholism? Consider this scenario: you get to work early, do your job and then some, leave when you can, and hopefully have a life for the rest of the day. Okay, so far so good.
How, then, do you become a workaholic?  Little by little, you adopt habits that keep you working longer and longer. Do any of the following behaviors seem familiar to you?

1. Stay loose and unfocused. Never mind the strategic plan or goals you wanted to accomplish. Constantly check your email all day long, and reply to even the most mundane of messages.

2. Chase down nebulous sales opportunities. Spend countless hours on the web on social networking sites in the erroneous belief that, somehow, legions of others are going to beat a path to your door… and reward you with new sales.

3. Scatter your efforts, day in and day out, so that significant accomplishments continue to elude you, and you have more work to do with each passing day.

4. Demonstrate how much work you’re doing, how you never get a break, and how you have so little support. Rush around to the bathroom, the water cooler, and the stockroom so that people can see you’re in a hurry.

5. Stay late every evening. Rather than leaving at a normal or appropriate time, see what else you can tackle. Waste your day on trivial issues, then, in the late afternoon, hurriedly try to catch up with all the work you put off.

6. Take stuff home with you every night. Fill your briefcase with reports, papers, and sales literature. Make sure when you get home that you spread these items all over the place so that you can’t escape them. Deny others in your household the opportunity to be with you.

7. Over-eat, under-exercise, watch too much television, and under-sleep. Arise feeling out of sorts, make your way out the door, and proceed as if you’re behind. Repeat this process over and over again until you look ragged, feel ragged, and are not a pleasure to be around.

8. Allow your  work  to take over your weekends. Shortchange leisure, vacations, time with your family, time with friends, and pursuit of your favorite past times and hobbies. Justify it all because times  are tough.

There – you are now a full-fledged workaholic. Welcome to the club with multimillions of members. Wear your  badge  proudly. You’ve earned this distinction all by yourself.

Okay, the above seems a little harsh, but each of us, me included, needs to periodically contemplate how easy it is to get out of balance.