Professionals used to leave the office at 5 p.m. and leave their work lives behind them. Meanwhile, workaholics would work compulsively at the expense of other pursuits.

These definitions have now become somewhat passé. According to a new women's survey developed by professional and social networking group, Company of Young Women, self-admitted workaholic women are more likely to report being life-aholics too, compared to their average counterparts.

"For many women today, work is not a means to a pay check, it's a path to passion and inspiration," says Aurea Crotty, entrepreneur and founder of Company of Young Women. "When women find their path and are able to do what they love, it doesn't feel like work any more. Suddenly work life and home life fuse, and the passion that grounds them creates a sense of balance."

In fact, survey respondents who said they were workaholics were twice as likely as the average women (47% versus 24%) to say they are exactly where they thought they would be in life today. The majority of these workaholic women (34%) say they live to play and it shows—they give their personal lives a close-to-perfect A+ grade. "The workforce and women's approach to it, is drastically different today from what it used to be," Crotty explained. "For the first time in our history, we have at least three generations of women—the Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Ys working together. The intergenerational culture shock goes far beyond record players, Walkmans and iPods."

Incidentally, the vast majority (87%) of women surveyed said that having an outlet to share and learn from other women of their own generation would actually make their own life and work more successful.

The survey results also indicated that women with established careers who have already identified their path of passionate pursuits have a lot to share with their younger counterparts. For example, compared to women in their 20s, women in their 40s and 50s were almost twice as likely (30% versus 16%) to report having a concrete action plan with specific timelines and goals for their future career growth.

When it came to work ethic, Boomers were also twice as likely as their younger 20-something counterparts (49% versus 25%) to say "seize the opportunities of the day and if there are none, move on."