I do work in my office on my 34" monitor. I put that system to sleep a d go down for dinner. I do pleasure downstairs on a 13" MacBook. Sometimes, if I need the space, I'll make an exception and do pleasure on the monitor. It works for me.
Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
231–240 of 318 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have two laptops - work and personal. When it’s time to shut off work, work laptop and cell phone go away, personal one comes out. Works pretty well. What doesn’t always work for me is the physical detritus after a work period - notes, papers, books etc. and even more so, the psychological carry over from difficult or prolonged periods of work. I find that if I work 10 hours a day (common) during the work week, for…
Same. Two computers, two chairs, two separate spaces. As soon as I sit down in a chair, that persona takes over.
Two Laptops, two desks and one chair.
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#233I log in as two different users on the same computer (but not at the same time): one for work and one for free time.
The work account only has work-related things: "TODO" text files, a calendar, e-mail, slack, documents, source code etc. When I log in, it's easy to get an overview and continue where I left off.
I also use https://github.com/cgag/hostblock to block all news/video sites while I'm logged in with my work account. It's pretty great.
This setup is the best yet, for me. It makes it easy to focus while also making the switch from work to free time almost as instant as physically leaving a workplace.
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#234I watched a YouTube video and this person explained a really neat concept. Your life is like a game. In this game, you have different stats and you must increase each stat. For example, in a typical game you may have: - Health - Attack Level - Money - Magic Level In games, you try to increase each of these stats to create the best and strongest character. Life is very similar, but the stats are: - Work - Social Life…
The funny thing is that you strive as hard as possible to minmax and break the game when you're playing an RPG - that's part of the joy of playing a game.
Sure you need some STR but if you're playing a mage, keep maxing out that Mana pool at the expense of everything else!
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#235Everyone seems like they have this all figured out. I am basically working from 9am to 10pm because I can't get enough work in during the day with a 6yo and 4yo. I have to make up the time after normal work hours.
With kids the status quo now is to wake up, interleaved work and childcare and housecare for 14 hours - doing all poorly, get ready for bed.
yea, I manage to fit in an hour with the wife and an hour gaming CoD/VR before going to bed and getting too little sleep.
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#236What worked for me:
- Making a pourover coffee in the morning. This slow process forces me to keep my mind clear and free, and "adjust" to the work day ahead.
- Take advantage of working from home! There's a heatwave right now and it is impossible to work during some hours for me. I take that time off to workout/do the dishes/chores. I then put in a couple of hours of work to make it up later at night where it is cool. Bonus: no meetings or coworkers to distract me at that time. which brings me to the last point:
- Plan your day well. Try to have a no-meetings day, or no meeting blocks for you to prepare and clean up lunch etc, heads down time etc. Put everything on your calendar.
YMMV.
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#237join a social club or some other activity at night so that you are required (or rather want) to be there at a certain time. then you have the push you need to get out of the house at a certain time. personally i go to an AA meeting every weeknight at 6:30 pm so I had no choice but stop working at 6 pm and leave the house.
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#238I watched a YouTube video and this person explained a really neat concept. Your life is like a game. In this game, you have different stats and you must increase each stat. For example, in a typical game you may have: - Health - Attack Level - Money - Magic Level In games, you try to increase each of these stats to create the best and strongest character. Life is very similar, but the stats are: - Work - Social Life…
The funny thing is that you strive as hard as possible to minmax and break the game when you're playing an RPG - that's part of the joy of playing a game. Sure you need some STR but if you're playing a mage, keep maxing out that Mana pool at the expense of everything else!
The reason minmaxing works in RPGs is because of the limitations of the simulation, which real-life doesn't have.
A mage with 1 STR and 18 INT may work when trying to beat a game, but in real life he or she would live a miserable existence: https://www.dmingwithcharisma.com/2011/10/dd-stats-in-simple...
(Good dungeon masters keep the above rubric in mind when running their games, btw, so as to discourage "gaming" the system.)
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#239Some excellent WFH tips posted by a colleague: https://www.kudos.com/resource/blog/stressed-about-working-r...
Re: Ask HN: How do you switch off from work, particularly when working from home?
#240Even in your 1BR apartment, can you make a spot is that is your "work" spot? A desk in a corner that you always work at, and don't use for anything but work? Having a specific location for "work", that when I leave I am no longer "at work", is what has worked for me. I've been working from home since before the pandemic, and some people are like "oh that's great, you can go work at coffeeshops" -- but I didn't do tha…
>A desk in a corner that you always work at, and don't use for anything but work? //
Hmm, I don't have any friends wealthy enough to have enough room in their house for 2 desk spaces for themselves. Your comment seems like a 'they have no bread? why don't they eat brioche' kinda of comment; ignorant of how most people live.
My boss, who makes about 50% more than me, works on a desk in his daughters bedroom; my boss' boss (about twice my wage) works out of her utility room. I had to move the bed to fit one desk in; 'just work in a different area of the room' seems quite myopic.