Extremely productive company 37signals (authors of Ruby on Rails) have a short 
but interesting post on workaholism. It seems that workaholics actually create situations that require more work. This makes sense. And there are plenty of opportunities to fabricate more work: focus on small, inconsequential details; say yes to things before you have finished what you are currently working on; have no idea how long it’ll take to finish your current project (this is a big one for programming), etc.
The problem is that many work environments actually encourage people to act the workaholic way (and look busy all the time). If your workplace is one of these, there’s little you can do.
I’m still not seeing any stats that prove that non-workaholics get more done than workaholics though 
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AMA citation:
Quesada J. Workaholics fixate on inconsequential details (37signals). Academic Productivity. 2008. Available at: http://www.academicproductivity.com/2008/workaholics-fixate-on-inconsequential-details-37signals/. Accessed September 8, 2010.
APA citation:
Quesada, Jose. (2008). Workaholics fixate on inconsequential details (37signals). Retrieved September 8, 2010, from Academic Productivity Web site: http://www.academicproductivity.com/2008/workaholics-fixate-on-inconsequential-details-37signals/
Chicago citation:
Quesada, Jose. 2008. Workaholics fixate on inconsequential details (37signals). Academic Productivity. http://www.academicproductivity.com/2008/workaholics-fixate-on-inconsequential-details-37signals/ (accessed September 8, 2010).
Harvard citation:
Quesada, J 2008, Workaholics fixate on inconsequential details (37signals), Academic Productivity. Retrieved September 8, 2010, from <http://www.academicproductivity.com/2008/workaholics-fixate-on-inconsequential-details-37signals/>
MLA citation:
Quesada, Jose. "Workaholics fixate on inconsequential details (37signals)." 10 May. 2008. Academic Productivity. Accessed 8 Sep. 2010. <http://www.academicproductivity.com/2008/workaholics-fixate-on-inconsequential-details-37signals/>
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but interesting post on workaholism. It seems that workaholics actually create situations that require more work. This makes sense. And there are plenty of opportunities to fabricate more work: focus on small, inconsequential details; say yes to things before you have finished what you are currently working on; have no idea how long it’ll take to finish your current project (this is a big one for programming), etc.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I work with a lot of people who seem chronically ‘busy’. It seems to me that workaholism is encouraged in our society more than any other addiction.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
As a self-diagnosed workaholic, I believe there is some truth in this. I especially relate to the idea of taking on more work before I even know what it entails and what my current work load really looks like.