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How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

timeawareness.substack.com

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Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#11

Post by MereInterest »

nend wrote: post #6
throwarayes wrote: post #3

Here’s what I do: - never install slack or email on your phone - use a separate laptop for personal stuff. I don’t/can’t log in to work stuff here. - put your work laptop away and out of sight when done work - (optionally) give a few trusted people your phone number if they absolutely must reach you The last point help alleviate the stress of “I absolutely must always check slack to deal with the latest crisis”

That's fine it works for you but it just shifts the burden off yourself by putting it on your coworkers. Unless it's specifically discussed and agreed upon for your role, that's rather unfair to the rest of the team.

I would say that it shifts the burden off of yourself by putting it onto management. Management then has the option to hire more people, to offset schedules to maintain better coverage, to establish more accurate goals and timelines, etc. These are things that are inherent to the role of a manager. There's no sense in me burning myself out to poorly work around a problem that exists at a different level.

The default assumption is that time outside of work hours is my time, and is not to be interrupted. Unless it's specifically discussed and agreed upon for my role, having anything else is extremely unfair and manipulative.

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#12

Post by digitalsushi »

nend wrote: post #6
throwarayes wrote: post #3

Here’s what I do: - never install slack or email on your phone - use a separate laptop for personal stuff. I don’t/can’t log in to work stuff here. - put your work laptop away and out of sight when done work - (optionally) give a few trusted people your phone number if they absolutely must reach you The last point help alleviate the stress of “I absolutely must always check slack to deal with the latest crisis”

That's fine it works for you but it just shifts the burden off yourself by putting it on your coworkers. Unless it's specifically discussed and agreed upon for your role, that's rather unfair to the rest of the team.

Without having the insight into another's mind that we have with our own, how could anyone make the claim that their coworker's burdens are as important to address than those of self?

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#13

Post by laichzeit0 »

MereInterest wrote: post #11
nend wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine it works for you but it just shifts the burden off yourself by putting it on your coworkers. Unless it's specifically discussed and agreed upon for your role, that's rather unfair to the rest of the team.

I would say that it shifts the burden off of yourself by putting it onto management. Management then has the option to hire more people, to offset schedules to maintain better coverage, to establish more accurate goals and timelines, etc. These are things that are inherent to the role of a manager. There's no sense in me burning myself out to poorly work around a problem that exists at a different level. The default…

Hiring more people means less money at the end of the year for that annual bonus. So you’re kinda making that choice, even if you shift the problem to management.

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#14

Post by mikeymz »

Without trying to trivialise this - it's a problem I have had and its an easy rut to fall into. Work can be a nice place to hide. However the solution is quite straightforward - stop. Work is not crack, it's actually pretty easy to not do when you try. Just don't do it. 5.30pm and you think about the next thing? Stop. 8pm and you think about opening your laptop? Stop. 6am and you think about getting up and looking at some code? Stop. If you are trying to hide in work it's probably not work that is the issue.

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#15

Post by Akcium »

baby wrote: post #9
Akcium wrote: post #4

Currently I'm in a big problem with time because of the mix of psychological problems including perfectionism. What I mean is: I spent almost all my time thinking how to plan my life. When I think about what I should do every day, I always find excuses why it won't work. So it turns out that everyday is spent by thinking instead of doing. Also I understand what the author meant when talking about the difficulty of ma…

I have the same issue and two things: - go take a walk alone for one hour. No headphones, no device. I’m not kidding - make a list of tasks that you must accomplish. See it like a queue that you’ll pop from and get a task to focus on. Now take your days one at a time focusing on the task in front of you. Do this until you depleted the queue. For this to work the queue should not be vague, and have items that you real…

Thank you

By queue you mean a set of tasks? Or a big goals or what?

I have a to-do list, a backlog in my project. The number of tasks just grow up, all I got power to do is to endlessly fill this list.

So we're talking about "small set of tasks", or a queue per project, or... could you clarify here?

And yeah, walking alone might help. Indeed. Will do

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#16

Post by throwarayes »

nend wrote: post #6
throwarayes wrote: post #3

Here’s what I do: - never install slack or email on your phone - use a separate laptop for personal stuff. I don’t/can’t log in to work stuff here. - put your work laptop away and out of sight when done work - (optionally) give a few trusted people your phone number if they absolutely must reach you The last point help alleviate the stress of “I absolutely must always check slack to deal with the latest crisis”

That's fine it works for you but it just shifts the burden off yourself by putting it on your coworkers. Unless it's specifically discussed and agreed upon for your role, that's rather unfair to the rest of the team.

I think the opposite is true: unless it’s agreed upon I work outside work hours, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to stop everything at a vacation with my kids to solve a bug. And I would not work anyplace that wanted that.

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#17

Post by violetgarden »

mikeymz wrote: post #14

Without trying to trivialise this - it's a problem I have had and its an easy rut to fall into. Work can be a nice place to hide. However the solution is quite straightforward - stop. Work is not crack, it's actually pretty easy to not do when you try. Just don't do it. 5.30pm and you think about the next thing? Stop. 8pm and you think about opening your laptop? Stop. 6am and you think about getting up and looking at…

Yup! I have a notebook for thoughts that pop up when I’m not working where I can jot down ideas or things I need to do. Otherwise, I find I feel like “I better do this real quick before I forget.”

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#18

Post by redisman »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #13
MereInterest wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that it shifts the burden off of yourself by putting it onto management. Management then has the option to hire more people, to offset schedules to maintain better coverage, to establish more accurate goals and timelines, etc. These are things that are inherent to the role of a manager. There's no sense in me burning myself out to poorly work around a problem that exists at a different level. The default…

Hiring more people means less money at the end of the year for that annual bonus. So you’re kinda making that choice, even if you shift the problem to management.

Great I’ll take the work life balance over an imaginary bonus then. And if you can’t keep up in compensation then I’ll look for another job

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#19

Post by frongpik »

laichzeit0 wrote: post #13
MereInterest wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say that it shifts the burden off of yourself by putting it onto management. Management then has the option to hire more people, to offset schedules to maintain better coverage, to establish more accurate goals and timelines, etc. These are things that are inherent to the role of a manager. There's no sense in me burning myself out to poorly work around a problem that exists at a different level. The default…

Hiring more people means less money at the end of the year for that annual bonus. So you’re kinda making that choice, even if you shift the problem to management.

Less money for the manager's bonus. For line workers, the bonus is more or less fixed.

Re: How I was failing to find time for life while working remotely

#20

Post by x3n0ph3n3 »

frongpik wrote: post #19
laichzeit0 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hiring more people means less money at the end of the year for that annual bonus. So you’re kinda making that choice, even if you shift the problem to management.

Less money for the manager's bonus. For line workers, the bonus is more or less fixed.

That's just not true in many cases.
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