If you are a workaholic and would like to achieve success based on the many hours you spend on your job, and not end up burning out, you must be able to create a "fusion" between work and family life. In order for you to do this fusion, you need to have a career, and not just a job. That is the essence – you must find your passion and flow in your work.

Finding the right match

Work is like a relationship, says Chamorro-Premuzic. A week in a job you don't like is just as horrible as spending a week with someone you don't like. It might seem a bit far-fetched to compare your job to a relationship, but the comparison is obvious, because when you find the right job or the right partner, there are no limits to how far you will go, and you just can't get enough .

Are you counting the hours until you have time off?

When you work without counting the hours until you have time off, you have found your passion and you have a career rather than a job. The more fleeting and blurred the line between your work and life becomes, the more successful you are likely to be in both areas. If you can blur this boundary, you've found a good flow.

Flow is a central concept in positive psychology. The flow theory was created by Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, and is used as a starting point within learning media pedagogy. The flow state can precisely lead to high levels of both learning and well-being. People who are in flow find that they are positively focused and fully concentrated in the current task or activity. The Flow experience is in itself motivating.

The sense of time disappears

Flow is thus the term for a positive mental state, characterized by concentration, commitment and immersion. When you are in flow, all attention is focused and maintained on a specific activity, for a shorter or longer time, and the sense of time disappears. You experience joy in what you work with, and you are in control of the situation. Your productivity and creativity increase. Having said that, it must be emphasized that there is great variation in the experience of flow. The condition can occur in connection with a myriad of different types of activities. The flow state is characterized by self-forgetfulness and positive engagement in the tasks with which one works.

A work day in flow is guided by your passion and will lead you to success. The flow will constantly bring you closer to the fusion between work and family life.

This is how you get into flow

Based on Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's research into flow, here are five points that can help support the ability to get into flow. They apply both at work and in leisure time.

1. Set clear, concrete and realistic goals.
   It is demotivating if the goal is far too unrealistic, and doubts may arise as to whether you can cope with the task.
2. Feedback, ie. ongoing and relevant feedback on how you are doing.
   In this way, you ensure that you do not go off track and thus end up spending unnecessary time on the task.
3. An appropriate balance between skills and knowledge on the one hand, and challenges on the other.
   Challenges and competences must match each other. Challenges that are too big cause stress, and challenges that are too small cause boredom.
4. Remove distracting factors.
   Be good at creating periods of calm and inaccessibility so that you can concentrate without being interrupted. This applies both if you work alone and in teams.
5. Make manageable, understandable and precise guidelines for the work/activities.
   It is important to align expectations, be aware of deadlines and other external factors that can disturb or interrupt your flow.