Ask YC: Should Fridays and Saturday nights matter to a young hacker?

Last night I spent from 10pm to 7am this morning hacking at the school science building.This his slowly now started to become a not so unusual occurence for me since dropping out of college in the middle of the semester to work on my startup project.

I've come to accept this as a new lifestyle and a necessary exchange of time if I'm to be successful in a highly competitive internet startup scene.

Yet I can't help but hear that little man in the back of my head every once in a while saying "your young and your being dumb, you should be out having some fun".

IMHO it's all about the correct balance. If you want to succeed at anything in life you need to balance your leisure and your work. Too much work will consume you as a person, ruin any relationship and get you emotionally unbalanced. Not working and having way too much fun will ruin your economy, your health and your work. Try to have at least a little bit of fun. Sometimes you need to chill out if you want to focus on something. Don't try to focus it as two different things, they are both connected and part of the same cycle. PS: Don't drink too much tonight ;)

I can't speak for you, but I find that working crazy hours is a big waste of time in the long run. My health, happiness and mental soundness all deteriorate due to a screwed up sleep schedule and lack of socialization. Aside from the long-term consequences to body and mind, all this deterioration adversely affects the quality of my work. I spend a lot more time chasing dead ends when my life is out of whack. So take a break, have a drink with friends, maybe even get laid. Your project will thank you later.

When you are young you have time so you should go ahead and work away. Don't eat too much fast food or drink too much soda though.

Rules I wish I had followed when I was 20(-ish):

1) Listen to the little voice. If he wants to be doing something else, so do you. You can only ignore him for so long.

2) When you can't do #1, make sure that you're doing something valuable. Don't squander your precious youthful enthusiasm on non-productive crap.

3) If you're prone to overwork, make your social life a priority. Never turn down a social invitation, unless you have a life-changing reason not to (your computer will be there when you return).