Like you—it wasn’t that long ago that I was burning the midnight oil. Working late nights and weekends wasn’t uncommon at all.

Essentially what I think helped me to get past the stress I was creating (probably in large part) for myself were these things:

1. Increase my confidence about the value I bring to the table (sometimes I found that because I was feeling insecure about making sure that I was being recognized for my contribution, I’d take extra steps to over deliver). When I realized that was what I was doing, I stepped back and asked myself what specific things I did that were perceived as “high value”—I focused my energy on those things and didn’t waste time trying to make up for areas where I wasn’t as strong.

2. Get a few other job offers. With the knowledge that you can get another job in a drop of a hat, you begin to recognize that ensuring everyone is happy with your performance 100% of the time is not so critical.

3. Self-evaluate what your values are, what you want to get out of life (and career secondary). I went through this women’s networking group exercise where we had to prioritize the 5 things we value most in life—surprisingly only 1 of my 5 were directly related to career. I realized by focusing all my extra energy on that 1 thing, I was neglecting the 4 other areas important to me as well. That really made me understand what is meant by striking the right “work-life balance.”

4. Ensure you are enjoying work. You spend nearly all of your working hours there - its important to REALLY like the people you work with, the work you are doing, the IMPACT you are having - otherwise you are in the wrong job.

All of these things I think really helped my get over the work obsession - although I admit I occassionally still fall back into the trap - and get on with living.