Lately, your job has taken up much of your time. You've even started bringing work at home and you keep working until the wee hours (凌晨）of the morning. You spend Saturdays and Sundays with your head bent on your work. And you're supposed to spend these days with your family, or friends, or for your relaxation! 

No longer do you work in order to live, but you now live in order to work. Work is now the center of your daily life, while the more important things have been relegated （轉(zhuǎn)移，歸入）to the trunk of your car; or in the backseat, if things are still not that worse. 

A workaholic. This is what you have become. The only time you don't think of work is during the three or four hours a day that you spend sleeping. You devote 16 hours of your day each day to working furiously: making money, reaching goals, working on giving your families the best, planning and mobilizing yourself for success. 


But little do you realize that by being too caught up with work, you gradually forget the reasons why you work: your family. Sure, you work to earn lots of money for them, but when was the last time you spent a full hour of quality time with your kids? Or your mom and dad? Or your friends? When was the last time you did something you used to do and enjoy before you mutated into a workaholic? 


Here are a few tips to help you, the workaholic, re-focus and get the best out of life (and keep you healthy and alive in the long run too!): 


EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP! Make it a point to get at least eight hours of sleep and plenty of rest. While food has substitutes in the form of natural medicines or artificial foods, there are no substitutes for sleep and rest. Don't believe that you can always "catch some sleep or rest later." Your body cannot make up for lost sleep or rest time because it is not physiologically possible. 


STRICTLY FAMILY ON WEEKENDS! Resolve to make Saturdays and Sundays strictly for family time. And stick to this! Mondays until Fridays you make an excuse not to relax and spend time with your family because it's work time, why not make a similar excuse for Saturdays and Sundays? "I can't work today because I'm spending time with my family." 


GET SOME FOOD IN! Make sure you get food in your stomach. Workaholics are known to be food-skippers. If you can't afford to get off your desk or from doing paperwork, have food delivered to you. It's always a good idea if you have crackers on your drawer to ease the hunger pangs. 


CONFINE WORK! Resolve to confine （限制，禁閉）work in your office. Don't bring work to your home! Keep those files in your office desk where they belong. If you work from home, keep your work stuff in the confines of your home office. Keep them there until the next day when you start work. Practice working only within your working hours. If you have an eight-to-five working schedule, stick to it. 


WORK UP THOSE MUSCLES! Exercise, exercise, exercise! Set aside at least an hour each day or every other day for exercise. You body needs to be conditioned, and working non-stop isn't going to give it the proper physical conditioning it needs. Since most workaholics tend to have their behinds stuck on their chairs, it's even more important that you get some exercise. 


MAKE A PLAN! Plan your day. Work on only one or two things at a time. It's much easier to work on something and finish it first and then move on to the next rather than do a number of things all at the same time and never finish or accomplish anything at the end of the day. Make out a list of priorities. Write down things that need to be worked on immediately or are urgent, keeping the least ones at the bottom of your list. After you've done this, be guided by this list. Turning this activity into a habit will also help you manage your time better, be more organized, and accomplish more. 


WORK TO LIVE! Always keep in mind that you work so you can live and have a comfortable life. Always remember that you don't live to work. Working is just one of the many useful and fruitful activities you do that enables you to live a good life and give your family (or any of your dependents) their needs. Don't make work your life. 


Yes, you've gotten side-tracked. You've gotten too into working that you've forgotten how to enjoy life and the many things it offers. Yes, you're a hard worker and it's not a bad trait.（顯著特點(diǎn)，特性） 

However, living with nothing but work in mind is. 


If you start following the tips outlined today, then you've just taken the first step to living a healthy, successful and happy life!