How to Work 80+ Hour Weeks • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Work 80+ Hour Weeks

#31

Post by daniel-cussen » Thu, Jul 03, 2008, 3:32 AM UTC

gizmo wrote: post #9

hugh wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say it's not nearly that unlikely. If you're smart, you have a good idea, and you work hard on it, your chances of that kind of success (and we're only talking the $10 million payday here, not the $billion payday) are something on the order of one third. What I'm more concerned about is the fact that the guy said he tried a four-hour workweek but got bored, and now he wants to work 100-hour weeks so he can retire…

Then you'll be forced to find something else to do. You can't watch TV 80 hours a week for a year - you'll go crazy. But you can watch 4 TV hours a day, every day, for the entire duration of your life. That is 28 hours a week. Or 1 year in 4. Probably the guy will take a break for 6 months after/when he succeeds, then do it all over again. Or he'll start doing something else obsessively. Either way he's not going to…

You can surf the internet for 40 hours a week, though.

Re: How to Work 80+ Hour Weeks

#32

Post by kirse » Thu, Jul 03, 2008, 4:30 AM UTC

ibsulon wrote: post #23

The question I have, of course, is how does one keeps their mental clarity of working even 70 hours a week over a month? For all the workaholics I've seen, most are not able to do so, lose sight of the big picture, and end up doing worse work than if they'd kept a normal schedule.

I never bothered to count how much I typically work in a week until I read this article.

Usually my weekday schedule goes something like this:

- 1hr in the morning for breakfast and centering for the day

- 8hrs at the 9-5

- 1hr at the gym

- 4hrs on the startup

- 1hr to read, relax, and disconnect

Total work time = 12 hours a weekday. On weekends I'll typically do 10-12hrs on the startup. So ~70-72 hours.

So what helps the most? Good Sleep... and Timeboxing - Focus into an activity and disconnect when your time is up. I make sure my mornings take an hour, don't rush, and relax and center myself for the day. Going to the gym is an awesome energy boost and stress reliever. And finally, similar to my morning, I set aside an hour at night away from the TV, computer, etc. to just relax and disconnect from the day. I need sleep, and this gets me 8 solid hours each night.

On weekends I'll hang out with friends at night and limit any drinking as much as possible. Really though the foundation is a good sleep... if I'm not getting the 8-9hrs I'll scale back everything and get my sleep in order first before resuming the busy work schedule.

Re: How to Work 80+ Hour Weeks

#33

Post by rw » Thu, Jul 03, 2008, 4:52 AM UTC

Hexstream wrote: post #27

krschultz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real question though is why you would WANT to retire in 10 years? He would be 32 or 34, and he will have spent his entire 20s elminating time for friends, relationships, and hobbies. So you get to the 30s, and suddenly you have 10 million dollars and what are you going to do? Stop working and do nothing? He already said he doesn't want to do that. And if you try to meet someone for a relationship - it is somewhat…

Myself, I want to "retire" early so I can start working more exclusively on what I love without having to worry when and how I can monetize my work. I'd rather have 500k in bank and complete independence than 100 millions and having to report to someone.

"Complete independence" is partially based on net wealth. If you have 100 million in the bank, you can tell your boss to buzz off, so it's a moot point.

Re: How to Work 80+ Hour Weeks

#34

Post by jmtame » Thu, Jul 03, 2008, 5:51 AM UTC

krschultz wrote: post #6

martythemaniak wrote: post #2

"The real truth is, entrepreneurs have a much greater respect for life and the purpose of a startup is to condense much of what would have been a very dull, very boring 9-5 for 40-50 years into a fast-paced, stress-intensive 4-7 year startup." The real truth is, that won't happen unless you hit a jackpot, so if you're actually banking on working 100hr weeks in startup, so you can relax later on, I suggest taking 30mi…

The real question though is why you would WANT to retire in 10 years? He would be 32 or 34, and he will have spent his entire 20s elminating time for friends, relationships, and hobbies. So you get to the 30s, and suddenly you have 10 million dollars and what are you going to do? Stop working and do nothing? He already said he doesn't want to do that. And if you try to meet someone for a relationship - it is somewhat…

I was going to do a follow up on this, but I decided it may be better if I dedicate another article to the topic. I think you've raised a really good point, and there are two really good counter-arguments I've seen so far to working 80 hours a week:

1) 80 hours isn't always more productive than 60 hours of someone else's time, and in fact may be counter-productive.

2) What do you have to show for after 10 years of playing the startup lottery? In your best case: you probably have a huge bank account, but no life left at that point.

I think this deserves a separate discussion. I'll keep this in the back of my head and think it over, post up another response when the time's right. At either rate, it's cool to see your guys' feedback.