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The compelling case for working less

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Re: The compelling case for working less

#221

Post by cr0sh »

dominotw wrote: post #152
spyckie2 wrote: post #7

I'm convinced that our decision for how much effort to exert on work is not governed by the rational part of our brain. It's part primal - fear of insecurity and belonging to a social structure - part ego - accomplishment as confirmation of existence and your salary as a concrete number to compare favorably to others - and part culture and habit. I also think overwork is a byproduct of a globally connected society. H…

I think it has more to do with insecurity about future. Sure I can work less and live a pretty cozy life a software developer. But I have no idea what will happen to my profession and to me in 10 yrs. Who knows if I'd be able to keep up with tech in 10yrs, maybe my brain will slow down. My job can be outsourced tomorrow or I can be replaced by someone younger, cheaper and more * hard working* than me. Better to work…

> Old age these days is 3-4 decades

As a 44+ year-old software engineer who is still gainfully employed, and who doesn't see that changing any time soon, I'm not sure what to make of your assertion...?

Are you seriously saying being older than 30 years of age is considered "old"?

Re: The compelling case for working less

#222

Post by cr0sh »

CM30 wrote: post #52
spyckie2 wrote: post #7

I'm convinced that our decision for how much effort to exert on work is not governed by the rational part of our brain. It's part primal - fear of insecurity and belonging to a social structure - part ego - accomplishment as confirmation of existence and your salary as a concrete number to compare favorably to others - and part culture and habit. I also think overwork is a byproduct of a globally connected society. H…

> I also think overwork is a byproduct of a globally connected society. Humans are happy if they are relatively well off compared to what they know. With smaller societies, we know less and thus expect less from ourselves and our situations. But it becomes more difficult to remain this way as small societies get replaced with large social networks. This sort of logic is also part of why social media can be so damagin…

> That regardless of what you're interested in or seemingly good at, that there will always be hundreds or thousands better than you at it.

When I come across these people, rather than feeling inferior to them, I try to learn what I can from them so that I can do and be better the next time.

Feeling inferior is nothing more than an (likely false) acknowledgement that you don't want to be a lifelong learner.

Re: The compelling case for working less

#223

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

gerhardi wrote: post #43

When you’re actually good at something you do, dont give 100% in all the time. Get a feeling of what your clients/boss/etc. need to be happy and try to exceed it marginally. - Be capable of 100 in normal working hours - Be expected to deliver 70 - Deliver 80 This provides also a good buffer for errors and other unexpected stuff. And reduces stress.

Scotty: Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.

La Forge: Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour.

Scotty: How long will it really take?

La Forge: An hour!

Scotty: Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would really take, did ya?

La Forge: Well, of course I did.

Scotty: Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0001544/quotes

Re: The compelling case for working less

#224

Post by dominotw »

cr0sh wrote: post #221
dominotw wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has more to do with insecurity about future. Sure I can work less and live a pretty cozy life a software developer. But I have no idea what will happen to my profession and to me in 10 yrs. Who knows if I'd be able to keep up with tech in 10yrs, maybe my brain will slow down. My job can be outsourced tomorrow or I can be replaced by someone younger, cheaper and more * hard working* than me. Better to work…

> Old age these days is 3-4 decades As a 44+ year-old software engineer who is still gainfully employed, and who doesn't see that changing any time soon, I'm not sure what to make of your assertion...? Are you seriously saying being older than 30 years of age is considered "old"?

sorry I meant 60-90. You need savings to sustain you for like 3 decades and those are expensive decades with all health and care costs.

Re: The compelling case for working less

#225

Post by s73ver_ »

godelski wrote: post #215
s73ver_ wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't put company email or company chat (slack) on my phone.

Would you if it gave you more time flexibility? And could set it to only chats for you, not group?

Not at all. When I leave the office, I want to leave work concerns along with it. My off time is for me, not my employer.

Re: The compelling case for working less

#226

Post by ndh2 »

itamarst wrote: post #200
ryandrake wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how that worked out well for you, unless you also negotiated a 20% reduced workload. Currently, I have way more work than I can possibly do in 40 hours, meaning I'm already dropping things on the floor if I only work 40. Working even fewer hours would exacerbate this problem.

Might be management problem, as someone else said; some managers are just bad. Might be learning how to negotiate will help. But might also be a mindset and skills problem: often you can do same amount of work with less time if you approach it correctly. For example, you can figure out which features are really necessary, and work on those first. Then when you inevitably run out of time you can say "I did A B and C,…

Might also be a can-do attitude. If you can't say no you'll always end up with "too much work".

Re: The compelling case for working less

#227

Post by pasquinelli »

taneq wrote: post #38
kungito wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't competitiveness at the core of biological evolution and not something we have "evolved to"?

I don't understand the distinction. Competition is at the core of biological evolution and so we, like all living creatures, have evolved to be competitive.

competition is not at the core of evolution, survival is. competition emerges when the survival of one requires another not to survive. is that relatively rare or commonplace? i think it's rare but it's down to ideology.

Re: The compelling case for working less

#228

Post by tomcam »

now_l93 wrote: post #181
tomcam wrote: post #18

I just like working and creating things.

Me too. Have you noticed that when you don't take breaks, that you create worse things? If not, ask the people around you if they notice.

True words. And I do have to remind myself to take breaks

Re: The compelling case for working less

#229

Post by xapata »

creep wrote: post #53
pfooti wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure what field you are in, and I wish you the best of luck, but that kind if tenure track, teacher-centric position is exceedingly rare. I had a tenure track job - in addition to teaching classes I loved teaching to amazing students, I had to chase grant money to pay for research that wasn't particularly interesting, but made a case for spending money, so the uni could get their overhead. The research I enj…

I'm in mathematics. This is my only career aspiration so I'm going to shoot for it, because there is nothing else I would possibly want to do besides research and teach. There is nothing else for me out in the Real World. I'm doing all the right things at this point in my studies-- grades are good, relationships with professors, extracurricular projects with students and profs. I have the dedication, the motivation,…

> There is nothing else for me out in the Real World

Not true. In my experience there are more opportunities in industry which have equal or greater freedom to research and teach than a typical university tenure track.

Re: The compelling case for working less

#230

Post by alashley »

swat535 wrote: post #202
kough wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Humans are happy if they are relatively well off compared to what they know. This is super true. I've been congratulating myself all month on my new job, paying me BIG BUCKS, compared to my friends. Well, just found out an old friend of mine also found a new job, getting payed literally twice as much as me. Now I'm in a funk and it's irrational and stupid but I can't help but look at the same number in a totally di…

This might be my inner Canadian speaking but in my experience, it is much easier to feel joy when a friend of mine succeeds than envy him. I feel much happier when people in my social circle are well off and living a great life. I have also found that helping those around me succeed, whether financially, or personally, usually improves my own quality of life in someway (not always of course). I also fully agree that…

> This might be my inner Canadian speaking but in my experience, it is much easier to feel joy when a friend of mine succeeds than envy him.

In my personal experience, I'd say this is a very unique quality to have. Not all friends and family members can be like this.

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