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Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

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Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#81

Post by echelon »

irrational wrote: post #80

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm. I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciat…

How do you do this? I would literally die. I can't live life so breathlessly with what sounds like no room for breaks. Are weekends even enough for you to recover?

Forget burning out of a job, I'd burn out on life.

Mad props to you. You've got a hell of a lot more discipline than I do. Your kids owe you.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#82

Post by kingnothing »

m23khan wrote: post #36

There is no work-life balance in tech. You can deceive yourself but the balance died out something like 7-8 years ago. When the wave after wave of tech changes happening and new tools coming into existence, the only lifestyle you can have to stay gainfully employed is: work, work, work until some other commitment (sleep, wife, kids) eat up remainder of your time. Personally, I think in next 5-10 years, IT workforce w…

I've been in the tech industry working for tech companies for a decade and have never regularly worked more than 40 hours per week. I do not check work email outside of business hours and I do not have email or chat alerts on my phone. I set the expectation with all of my coworkers that they can call me on the phone if there's an emergency outside of normal hours and I'll try to help, but that type of thing should always be handled by our on-call engineer first. If you're speaking from personal experience, you should re-evaluate your employer and how you approach your work life.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#83

Post by teh_klev »

irrational wrote: post #80

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm. I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciat…

> I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school

I don't mean to pry or be cheeky or sound judgemental, but how many kids do you have that it takes 3-4 hours to get them all breakfasted and ready for school? And is school far away or just a 10-15 min drive? What are you doing during that time?

I know kids can consume a lot of attention in the morning (especially the elementary lot), but that amount of time seems extraordinary.

I'm 52 and my folks were never up before 7:30am to get us fed and watered and ready for school and there was still plenty of time for banter, making packed lunches etc.

I'm genuinely interested.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#84

Post by maccard »

antisthenes wrote: post #26
pacaro wrote: post #7

I'm struck by a couple of things, Getting up at 4.30am seems excessive and presumably requires going to bed at 8-9pm I can't imagine doing this with a child

I can't imagine ever going to bed unless it's completely dark outside. I did grow up in the northern latitudes somewhat, so going to bed before 11pm in the summer would be ridiculous. We were out playing with friends until 9-10pm, easily.

It doesn't really get dark wherei live in June/early July, and from April until mid august midnight is more like dusk.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#85

Post by OJFord »

teh_klev wrote: post #83
irrational wrote: post #80

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm. I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciat…

> I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school I don't mean to pry or be cheeky or sound judgemental, but how many kids do you have that it takes 3-4 hours to get them all breakfasted and ready for school? And is school far away or just a 10-15 min drive? What are you doing during that time? I know kids can consume a lot of attention in the morning (especially the elementary lot), but that amount…

Well, plural children in three categories of school (so 6+) was what caught my eye!

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#86

Post by teh_klev »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #65
cybersnowflake wrote: post #42

If you can consistently wake up at 430AM in a standard workday and just carve out 5 hours of freetime in addition to the time others have you're either a savant, an inhuman monster who doesn't need sleep, or your job probably doesn't require you to do that much. Either way I'm not going to take your advice too seriously when it comes to universality.

Children. I get up about 4:45 AM. Thirty minutes for myself, then microwave my son's bottle. Twenty minutes to get him ready, if I'm lucky, then twenty more to get to a diner that opens at 6 for breakfast. Daycare opens at 6:30, at work at 7AM. Don't work more than 10 hours because daycare closes at 6PM. Yeah, Before Children (BC) the World is your oyster.

> Children. I get up about 4:45 AM. Thirty minutes for myself, then microwave my son's bottle.

Sure, but that's when kids are fairly young. That'll pass when he heads off to primary school (elementary?). Well until the next one and then you decide NO MORE! :)

> Don't work more than 10 hours because daycare closes at 6PM

My advice would be cut that back to eight hours at most (or else burn out will hit you), unless of course you've got some mad distanced round trip between office/home/daycare in which case that's understandable. Or you get paid a stupidly amazing salary where sticking this out for 5-7 years means you can extricate yourself to a slower pace of life.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#87

Post by bradlys »

irrational wrote: post #80

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm. I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciat…

I can understand getting the kids up for elementary school (especially if they're very young) but even when I was in 5th grade - I was getting up myself, eating breakfast I made, and walking to school by myself. My parents were frequently gone by the time I woke up because they had to be at work before I had to be at school. In middle school (6th - 8th) - it was no different for the rest except that I walked or biked across town. High school was a bit closer but I still walked or biked. Bus was an option but I skipped it because it took too long (I was the first stop on a long many stop route).

Obviously, if they need transport because you're 5+ miles away and there's no buses then I understand transporting them takes a lot of time. Regardless, shouldn't your children be somewhat self-sufficient by 10 years of age? You make it sound like you have to do everything for them for it to take 3+ hours every morning.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#88

Post by balfirevic »

m23khan wrote: post #56
paggle wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This article isn’t about working in the tech industry

I understand but the whole start off your day slow, be dainty in the morning, etc does not fly well in IT industry I have seen. People seem to rush to work, I would estimate majority either just grab some breakfast on the way or skip it and work per employee has increased a lot with added pressure to train/keep up to date for last 10 years.

How would anyone at work know if you woke up earlier and enjoyed a slow morning?

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#89

Post by teh_klev »

OJFord wrote: post #85
teh_klev wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school I don't mean to pry or be cheeky or sound judgemental, but how many kids do you have that it takes 3-4 hours to get them all breakfasted and ready for school? And is school far away or just a 10-15 min drive? What are you doing during that time? I know kids can consume a lot of attention in the morning (especially the elementary lot), but that amount…

Well, plural children in three categories of school (so 6+) was what caught my eye!

I did notice the plurals. If so then I probably get it. That said, High Schoolers, if in their teens do tend to sleep in longer (unless they're those annoying up-with-the-lark types), and can be a bit more self sufficient when trained properly :) so you could knock an hour off that schedule.

Re: Slow Mornings May Be a Secret to Tech-Life Balance

#90

Post by irrational »

echelon wrote: post #81
irrational wrote: post #80

I get up at 5am to start getting the kids up and ready for school (high schoolers first, then elementary schoolers, then middle schoolers). Everyone is finally at school by 9:15am and I can head in for work. I get home around 6pm and get the little kids in bed by 8pm. 8-8:30pm is me time. Then I get ready for bed and am asleep by 9pm. I can't imagine what a slow morning (or evening!) would even be like. I'd appreciat…

How do you do this? I would literally die. I can't live life so breathlessly with what sounds like no room for breaks. Are weekends even enough for you to recover? Forget burning out of a job, I'd burn out on life. Mad props to you. You've got a hell of a lot more discipline than I do. Your kids owe you.

What is a weekend? Honestly, weekends are super busy. I actually look forward to Mondays when I can go back to work and sit in front of a computer for much of the day.
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