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Startup work-life balance

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Re: Startup work-life balance

#4
I didn't see the life part of her work life balance.

I always imagined that work life balance meant you had things that you wanted to do in your personal time, and you had the time to do them.

Not 'I love working so much that my balance is all work and little / no life'.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#5
post #3

Confucius said, "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." If you don't work, you don't have to worry about work-life balance.

I don't think that's a fair argument. There's always a point in projects where you need to do something you don't want to do. At that point your work has become an obligation, which makes it something you don't love. You're forced to undergo the stress that we're discussing balancing. The key IMO is to find the right balance of working through that stress.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#6
post #4

I didn't see the life part of her work life balance. I always imagined that work life balance meant you had things that you wanted to do in your personal time, and you had the time to do them. Not 'I love working so much that my balance is all work and little / no life'.

Yeah, I think the problem lies more for people who don't want to work so much but have to make huge sacrifices/give up job security to get that kind of freedom.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#7
People don't exist in a vacuum, though. Unlike when he was a teenager, his workaholic attitude affects others in a workplace environment. It affects the company culture and puts pressure on people to work more to keep up. It makes otherwise good workers feel guilty that they don't work more.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#8
It feels like the author picked the 8 hour work day. I don't see that as part of the overall discussion on balance.

The main point of balance is that you are a more complete human being when you participate in a wider range of activities. Even if that just means you're a better developer because you stepped away for an hour or a week and got a new perspective. Just because you're not miserable only doing primarily one thing doesn't mean you wouldn't be happier if you forced yourself to learn or see or try new things at regular intervals. You'd most likely be much more interesting to those around you too.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#9
Not sure if I agree with the author here. Yes it is true that if u love what u do, it doesn't feel like a burden and might have a feeling of balance there. But even then, I want my personal life which means being able to spend time doing other things and not just work.

The author talks about his teenage days when he would rather do math and not watch x files. That's fine. But what about ppl who have kids and want to go home and spend time with them instead of working which btw they love.

And that's my point. Just because u love your work, doesn't mean u have a balance. I will rather call it obsession.

Re: Startup work-life balance

#10
I used to program all the time in high school. I thought I was happy.

Then I went to college, met all sorts of people, had lots of experiences, and realized how narrow my life, and concept of happiness was.

So when I hear people talk about how much they love their work, that's their own balance... I can't help but wonder if they just haven't learned how great the other parts of life are. And how much a wider range of experiences can make their work part better as well.

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