Is binge working destroying your professional life or the business you own? Read on to find out.

You’ve no doubt heard of binge drinking and binge eating, but you probably haven’t heard of binge working.

Just like the previously mentioned binges, binge working is a pattern of performing an excessive amount of work in a short period of time, or, expecting an excessive amount of work in a short period of time from others.

Being a binge worker is not the same as being a workaholic. Workaholics work consistently at their job; the pace and amount of work they perform rarely changes.

Binge workers on the other hand have massive swings in their work production and emotions.

Binge workers usually only work at their binge pace for a short time, the rest of the time they tend to be unproductive and inefficient with their time and activities.
 
There are many problems and issues related to being a binge worker, especially a binge leader! Here are just a few:

• Just like a binge drinker, or a binge eater, binge workers tend to be emotionally and verbally abusive when they are on their binge. They often say things like “things are going to change around here.” “You guys have been taking advantage of me and I am sick of it.” Or, “I’m going to have to fire you if you don’t get your act together.”

• Dr. Billy R. Williams (#billyrwilliamsphd) President of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring had this to say “When I work with a small business as a mentor, I immediately look for the symptoms of binge leadership, once I see it, I know my number one job is to calm down the team members and to try to mitigate the emotional damage that the binge leader has caused.”

 

• Binge leaders rarely train their staff or team members because of the leader’s poor time management and complete lack of focus. However, when they’re on a binge, they expect the team to be operating at peak efficiency and binge right along with them, often requiring the employees or team members to stay late or come in early.

             

• “I created the Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring Video and Document Library to give employees and team members of insurance agencies and small businesses a resource that they could turn to for easy, but very comprehensive, step-by-step training and mentoring: www.inspireanation.org)”

 

• Binge leadership usually results in high staff turnover since success measurements change from moment to moment depending on the mood of the binge leader.

 

• Binge workers and leaders try to perform too many task and projects that they are not qualified or educated enough to do, which results in a lot of “started but never completed projects.”

 

• Binge leaders often (very often) pull their employees and other team members off of their schedules and tasks because they want their binge ideas to take priority over everything else. This generally disrupts the entire office or organization and leads to an immense amount of frustration.

 

• When a binge worker or leader comes off of their binge, they leave a mess for others to have to clean up. “Often when a business comes to us for mentoring, it is to clean up the mess that a binge situation has caused in the business.” Said Billy R. Williams PhD. President of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring.

 

• If the binge worker is the owner or leader in the business, they are generally the reason their business never moves forward. It’s hard to move forward when the majority of the employees’ work day is spent fixing problems a binge leader causes.

I could go on and on but I think you get the point.
 
If you are a binge leader here are some things you can do to “get the hell out of your own way!”

• Use as much automation as possible in the day to day operation of your business. Automation isn’t afraid of your binge tirades and it will not call in sick just to avoid you. Using automation such as drip email schedules, automated phone tools, and tracking tools will help with the consistency of operating your business. (Check out the Data and Marketing Super Center CRM)

 

• Have your employees and team members follow a daily tasks and process schedule. It is much more difficult to pull your team off of their tasks when the tasks are an everyday part of the culture of your business.

 

• Have a set schedule (day and time) for your leadership tasks to get accomplished. Schedules help control binges.

 

• Have a mentor and/or a board of advisors that you talk to on a regular basis. A good mentor and/or a board of advisors will help keep your binges under control and help you identify your weaknesses. (Inspire a Nation has mentoring memberships starting at $29.00/month)

 

• Outsource tasks and processes that you tend to screw up. Be honest with yourself, if you are not good at a tasks, get the hell out of the way and let someone that is good at the tasks, do the dang task! If you hired bad employees that can’t learn to properly perform a needed task or process, that is your fault, and you have to make a business decision: either train them, or get rid of them. This one time where your binge actually comes in handy, since you will probably fire them while you are ticked off.

 

• Find your happy place and your energy makers! Usually binge working is a result of dealing with stressful issues outside of the work place such as people or finances. (Though usually your money problems are a direct result of your binge working and the problems it causes.) Prayer, reading motivational books, and surrounding yourself with high energy people will help you find your happy place.

If you want more of this type of wisdom, attend a live Inspire a Nation workshop when it comes to a city near you. Click here to see the 2017 workshop schedule: http://www.inspireanation.org/Live-Workshops
 
If you liked this article, please give it a like, and leave a comment about a binge worker/leader scenario you have experienced in your career.

Thank you for your time today!

Billy R. Williams, PhD
President - Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring
www.inspireanation.org