Are you addicted to work?

Hardworking business owners can easily be misunderstood. From the outside they may look like work addicts, but many are simply determined to provide for their families and keep their businesses going.

Running a small business has become much harder. Higher dividend taxes, rising employment costs and increasing regulation mean many owners have to work longer just to stand still. For many entrepreneurs, long hours are a necessity rather than an addiction.

Personally, I am highly driven and enjoy building my business, but there is also the responsibility of paying staff, supporting clients and covering costs. As Jimmy Carr says, "Everyone is jealous of what you've got. They're not jealous of how you got it."

The key is making sure work serves your life, not the other way round. Protect time with family and friends and remember that burning yourself out helps neither you nor your business.

I do not think most business owners are addicted to work because they love being busy. Many build businesses because we are scared of standing still. When the business is personal, switching off can feel like dropping the ball on payroll, clients, reputation and the future you are trying to create.

I am honest about it: I struggle to switch off. There is always another issue or opportunity that feels too important to leave until tomorrow. The danger is when work stops being purposeful and becomes the only place you feel useful, in control or safe.

Hard work is not the problem. Losing yourself in it is. Rest is not laziness and not a reward you earn only when everything is finished, because in business everything is never finished.

My advice is: protect small pauses: one phone-free meal, a walk without a podcast, one evening where you are not “just checking” emails. You do not need to disappear for a month. You need to remember the business needs your energy, not every minute of you.

For most business owners, the work-life binary is a fiction. Running a business is a lifestyle, and the mental load rarely clocks out at 5pm.

I don't ignore work on holiday. A mounting inbox and unanswered decisions can be more stressful than a quick check-in. As an owner, you carry responsibilities that don't neatly sit with anyone else. That's the job description, not addiction.

The real distinction is whether you work because you love building something, or because stopping makes you anxious. That's where performance, health and relationships can suffer. My advice is simple: make work a choice, not a compulsion. If a brief check-in genuinely helps you switch off afterwards, that's healthier than feeling guilty all day.

Our annual research shows that freelancers really struggle to take time off - almost a third of freelancers took less than seven days off in 2025, and those who do take time off find it hard to switch off, worrying about missed opportunities, or checking emails when they're on holiday. This has a dramatic impact on our wellbeing too - over half of those who took little time off reported poorer mental health. If you struggle to take time off, try alternative techniques like a shorter day (close the laptop at 3pm instead of 6pm); a shorter week (try four day weeks for a longer weekend); but most importantly, giving yourself permission to rest, to ensure your self-employment is sustainable.

If you do something you love, then the distinction between work and life becomes more blurred. Business owners are often be so passionate about delivering the best service and outcomes for their clients that os can lead to an addiction to work.

That said, when running your own business it is not just about the client work, it is also about all of the other elements that are required for the business to function - marketing, business development, finances, people and payroll matter, compliance and much more.

Good diary management and building in time for family, the gym and holidays are really important to prevent burnout and ensure you operate effectively when working. Also, having a great support network with family, friends and mentors is really powerful.

I think the fact I'm answering this while on holiday in the Mumbles probably tells you everything you need to know.

For many small business owners, it's almost impossible to switch off completely. Whether that's healthy is another matter. When clients, staff and their families all rely on the decisions you make, it rarely feels like a job you can simply leave behind at 5pm.

Technology has made this even harder. Email, smartphones and remote working mean we're connected wherever we are, so the boundary between work and personal life has become increasingly blurred.

That said, there is a difference between being committed and being addicted. If work consistently comes at the expense of your health, relationships or ability to relax, it's probably time to take a step back. Taking proper breaks isn't a sign of weakness; it's often what allows business owners to make better decisions and avoid burnout.

Work addiction is the quiet epidemic of small business ownership. As an accountant to hundreds of founders, I see it daily, usually dressed up as commitment. The deeper truth is that owners confuse being busy with being valuable, so the business becomes their identity rather than their job, and rest starts to feel like failure. In my experience the owners who last are not the ones who clock the most hours, but the ones who guard their time off. The fix is structure, not willpower. Schedule rest like a client meeting and defend it just as fiercely. Turn email off your phone after 7pm tonight and notice the world keeps turning. The business will survive. So will you.