{"id":106,"date":"2025-05-06T10:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T15:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/?p=106"},"modified":"2025-05-06T10:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T15:56:19","slug":"workaholism-not-always-a-bad-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/2025\/05\/06\/workaholism-not-always-a-bad-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Workaholism: Not Always a Bad Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexis Spier<\/a><\/strong>
\u201cI have ten minutes,\u201d Melvin Sudbeck replied when I asked about his work-life balance. He may have been anticipating another call, arriving at his next job site, or just getting home from work. Possibly, his mind is only able to sway from work for a short period of time. Luckily, work is precisely what I wanted to ask him about. After talking with Sudbeck, I was surprised. Not because he showed many characteristics of a workaholic, but because he seems like a healthy workaholic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Workaholism?<\/strong>
Some people wouldn\u2019t hesitate to call Sudbeck a workaholic. He works ten hours a day and many times longer than that. When he gets home, he\u2019s still working. Often, he is on the phone talking to employees, other companies, bidders, and clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommunication is 60-70 percent of my day,\u201d Sudbeck said. \u201cI have about ten people that directly report to me and roughly eighty employees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, a workaholic isn\u2019t simply defined as someone who works a lot of hours. It is their inability to stop thinking about work. Malissa Clark wrote an article published in Harvard Business Review<\/a>, saying,  \u201cWork dominates your thoughts and your activities, to the detriment of other aspects of your life, relationships, and health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudbeck has a wife and four kids. His two oldest boys are twins in their mid twenties. His middle son is in college and his youngest is in middle school. Sudbeck is the owner of Sudbeck Homes. His company has been building homes in the Omaha area for three decades. It is clear that Sudbeck exhibits workaholic tendencies. He is also a very giving person. He donates to the church, and he donates his time to help construct things for the high school his children attended. Sudbeck can be summed up in two words: generous and hard working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workaholism or Passion?<\/strong>
Over Easter break, Sudbeck vacationed in Winter Park, Colorado. He, his family, and a few of his friends hit the slopes for a couple days. A workaholic would struggle to enjoy this leisure time away from work. He\/she might forfeit a family activity to focus on work. For example, Clark described how a workaholic ruined her family\u2019s vacation. She was picking up a cake when she decided she had to make a phone call. The cake melted while her husband and kids waited in the car. Sudbeck\u2019s vacation story is similar, but he didn\u2019t ruin his family\u2019s vacation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mentioned earlier how workaholics cannot separate their work from their personal life. Sudbeck can intertwine them. He could ski and answer phone calls at the same time. I mean this literally. As he was skiing down the mountain, he had an earpiece in, so when he received a call, he didn\u2019t have to stop. Many workaholics would not be able to enjoy such an activity with work flooding their minds. Sudbeck was happy to do both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A family friend who was with Sudbeck on the slopes recalled his time with him on the mountain. \u201cHe would start talking. I thought he was talking to me, but he was on a call.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could Sudbeck enjoy skiing when he kept getting phone calls? The answer is simple and another tendency of a workaholic: He\u2019s passionate about what he does. At the core of workaholism is something that\u2019s a positive \u2014 a passion for something. It\u2019s the inability to throttle that passion, to turn it off, that becomes the issue. When I asked Sudbeck if he thinks he works too much, his answer was what I expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever,\u201d he said. \u201cI love what I do and I enjoy what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked his wife the same question: \u201cYeah, probably,\u201d she said. \u201cAlthough, he\u2019s very good when he comes home from work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because they need to get things done, workaholics will often settle for mediocrity. They would rather get things done than do their best work. Sudbeck can\u2019t afford to do that. His company builds homes. If he doesn\u2019t demand perfection, things collapse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this, Sudbeck differs from other workaholics. He isn\u2019t obsessed with checking things off a to-do list, even if the work isn\u2019t sufficient. In fact, a lot of his day is unpredictable. His phone is ringing most of the day, and he\u2019s moving from site to site. He can\u2019t build and fix everything, so he has to delegate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clark notes workaholics tend to be poor delegators. Their drive to always have work to do means they\u2019d rather take it on themselves than give it to someone else. However, Sudbeck said he has to delegate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA tough thing I have to tell people is they have to talk to their supervisor,\u201d he said. \u201cThey call the shots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workaholism is considered detrimental to both people who may experience it and the organizations they work for.\u00a0While Sudbeck thinks he does a pretty good job delegating, employee Bill Starnes says differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe has a terrible time delegating,\u201d Starnes said. \u201cHe has his thumb on everything. At the end of the day, yes, I believe it\u2019s detrimental. For example, I just hired a guy and he\u2019s doing a great job. He had things lined up for today, and Melvin called him and blew up everything that he had planned. So, this morning it was chaos, because not everyone was informed on the new plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His poor delegation skills pour into his regular life. On vacation, he was the one going out to buy food. When someone lost a glove, he immediately volunteered to look for it. He was happy to clean up. His generosity could have to do with the fact that he cannot take a break. To the workaholic, a break is a signal that something\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t sit at home,\u201d Sudbeck said. \u201cI go crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudbeck is the boss, so he doesn\u2019t have to work every minute. However, he has people to \u201creport\u201d to. Insurance companies are a big part of this. Making sure there is enough work for every one of his employees is a daily responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have to work on the business not in the business,\u201d Sudbeck said. \u201cPeople think I carry the big stick, but my job is keeping people happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work is a Hobby<\/strong>
Many workaholics find it impossible to disengage from work. They go to sleep thinking about work, but many people who aren\u2019t workaholics think about work throughout the day. The difference is non workaholics want to detach from work. Their free time is important to them. I asked Sudbeck what he does when he isn\u2019t working. To sum up his answer: When he\u2019s not working, he\u2019s working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cQuite a bit of my day is going over projects,\u201d Sudbeck said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of unforeseen things I have to help my employees get through. Other things I do include bidding projects, talking to clients, and paperwork. I\u2019m often thinking, what are the pieces I need to consider?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudbeck is in his mid-fifties, and has been working on his business since he graduated high school. He loves his business and hates sitting around. I asked him if he plans on retiring soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t plan on retiring,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m in good shape, and I enjoy what I do. I may back off a little later in life and hand off some things. But, I have no plan on retiring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sudbeck added, \u201cI know a lot of people that retire and don\u2019t have hobbies and nothing to stimulate themselves. They fall apart. I don\u2019t want to be one of those people. I want to keep my mind active and challenge it. An active mind is part of physical health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workaholics don\u2019t have hobbies. They have things they enjoy doing but make little time for them. When they do make time for a hobby, they are distracted by work and would prefer doing a work project over that activity. Sudbeck does not have many hobbies. He sometimes enjoys fishing and skiing. As his kids grow up, they\u2019ve done more travelling. However, none of these things excite him like his work does. I asked him if he considers work a hobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHeck, yes,\u201d Sudbeck said. \u201cYou might think that\u2019s sick, but I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Workaholism is known to be a negative tendency. These people prioritize work over everything else. They struggle to delegate. They can\u2019t sit still, and they are constantly working or thinking about work. Sudbeck has some of these tendencies, but he is also the very best of a workaholic. He is extremely passionate about what he does. He builds reliable homes for people. He has a friend group who understands him, and they travel together every year. When you are this passionate about work and health, it\u2019s hard to call his workaholism a detrimental thing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexis Spier\u201cI have ten minutes,\u201d Melvin Sudbeck replied when I asked about his work-life balance. He may have been anticipating another call, arriving at his next job site, or… Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/commcapstone25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}