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People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

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Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#201

Post by nprateem »

krageon wrote: post #200
nprateem wrote: post #199

I've recently been working a lot, but not all of it has been desk time. I think it's fair to include time spent thinking about work as work time - once I've worked out how to solve a task I can churn it out, but something particularly complicated might take a few days of thinking (fast and slow) to work out. A survey like the one in the article may be too simplistic because I could be in the gym while mulling over a…

It's not work time in the sense that you will be paid for it though, which is usually the metric people use. Unless I am missing something.

True, but then a lot of people in permanent jobs don't get paid extra for overtime anyway. I mean it more from the perspective of how much of your day you're "on", and that leisure/other activities aren't necessarily mutually exclusive to thinking about work related tasks, which can make you more productive during your usual paid hours.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#202

Post by hycaria »

munk-a wrote: post #98
bitL wrote: post #96

I think 75+ productive hours are doable if: 1) you start early 2) keep focus 100%, no browsing/distractions etc. 3) after 7 hours you make a 2-3h long break and do something completely different, like taking a walk outside, sunbathing, biking, sauna or whatever makes you happy 4) when you return, you work on another task/for another company, never the same stuff you worked on in the morning 5) you take only one day o…

Why do you want to work 75+ hours? What are you working for - what value are you receiving from life? These are serious questions, I've worked crazy overtime (defined by me as anything over 50 hours a week) and never want to return to it, consistently doing 10 hour days is draining and significantly lowered my productivity, it was just bad times all around.

I have 2 jobs (say 55h away from home, but one being on duty even though on location, i get to sleep a bit) yet I still wish I could have more work or work more. For various reasons :

* if you have to work that much then you probably are doing something important, or your opinion is needed on various things. Either way you feel important and valued (even if it's complete bullshit in the end)

* keeps you from boredom. I wouldn't waste my time like I still manage to do.

* satisfies my own masochism. I just like to suffer, somehow

* take up the challenge. I am confident that I'm a rather quick thinker and that I could do it marginally faster than most.

* hopefully pay follows. And the experience is always valuable for later employment.

I really dream of drowning in emails and an elongated to do list. Alas none of it at 27 and I fear it's too late for me, and that I'll just be a mediocre unnecessary worker all my life.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#203

Post by hycaria »

iagooar wrote: post #66
Theodores wrote: post #12

What is work anyway? If you are a programmer then work is different. Sure you are not on your feet all day at the beck and call of customers, however, if you are not working then your computer is. Waiting is not supposed to be part of the job. Learning on the job is also verboten. Very little time that is on the company clock is spent travelling. I have colleagues in sales that do lots of travel, then, when they are…

> I also know from experience that time spent travelling is tiring, but is it strictly work? > On the plane they could have the laptop out and be working on spreadsheets. Or they could be playing Angry Birds. Would one activity count as working and the other not? If the company put me in that plane, I can do whatever I want and it'll still count as work. I wouldn't be in that plane if it wasn't for the company. The t…

Or you do your taxes, respond to emails, call friends/family, plan your next family trip, all that stuff that can be done remotely and that you otherwise would've done on sunny sundays and whatever and come back fully available ? Doesn't sound that simple to me.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#204

Post by tonyedgecombe »

langitbiru wrote: post #190
jnbiche wrote: post #139

I worked 60-70 hours a week for 6 months and destroyed by health ( actually programming for 50+ of those hours, tracked time since it was billable hours for a consulting firm). Finished the project by the deadline I was hired for, but quit soon afterwards and within 2 months I was in the ICU, and then in and out of the hospital several times with some serious chronic health issues that I'm still recovering from 2 yea…

I think society needs to push more this part-time culture. There are many people who prefers part-time jobs but with additional free time. They may want to take care children or old folks. Or they want to pursue their dreams, like writing novels, building indie games, etc. Maybe I should build a startup based on this premise. :)

If the rest of the industry won't employ women, older workers, part timers, ex convicts, etc then perhaps there is an opportunity there.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#205

Post by tonyedgecombe »

feistypharit wrote: post #164
jnbiche wrote: post #139

I worked 60-70 hours a week for 6 months and destroyed by health ( actually programming for 50+ of those hours, tracked time since it was billable hours for a consulting firm). Finished the project by the deadline I was hired for, but quit soon afterwards and within 2 months I was in the ICU, and then in and out of the hospital several times with some serious chronic health issues that I'm still recovering from 2 yea…

Agreed! I feel the same way...flexible time is better than money. I think part of the problem in the US is health care. Employees still want it, but employers view it as a high fixed cost for a partial employee. That being said, I get healthcare through my wife, so wouldn't need it.

I'm not sure it is health care because the situation is broadly similar in the UK.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#206

Post by haihaibye »

Rescis wrote: post #109
jolmg wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Work is optional. There are plenty of people who get by without it. Doesn't mean they're doing well or healthy. Except if you don't have a kid, you have better chances of staying well and healthy. That's the whole point. That's what is meant with parenthood being optional and work not. > And for society to continue to function having children is actually not optional. With the rate at which world population is incr…

To start, we are at 7.53 /billion/, not trillion. Second, ever single time someone has said that overpopulation was going to be the end of us, they've been wrong. To quote Wikipedia, which go so far back as Ancient Carthage and Greece: Concern about overpopulation is an ancient topic. Tertullian was a resident of the city of Carthage in the second century CE, when the population of the world was about 190 million (on…

> that with every new person born, that is a new person thinking of scientific advancements that can be made

Smarts for scienfic advancement is not evenly spread across global populations.

It's possible to have population growth while the high IQ fraction shrinks. All evidence says this is the current state of the earth.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#207

Post by tonyedgecombe »

321yawaworht wrote: post #163
osrec wrote: post #14

Investment bankers will often claim this, while also lying about their salary. I was often surprised by my colleagues claiming extra long work weeks, all while looking remarkable fresh. I couldn't work it out - I mean, if I worked a solid 14 hour day, you could see it clearly on my face, yet if they do it, they seem to develop a healthy glow. Turns out a lot of them were in the building, but not at their desk. Oftent…

Reminded me of this Amazon video about life as an SDE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX1P-gGqNjo All of them seem tired, with strong dark circle under their eyes.

Wow, you can hear it in their voices as well.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#208

Post by tonyedgecombe »

ridgewell wrote: post #8
ska wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hence some of the dysfunction in medicine.

Medicine is an interesting case. The prioritization isn't so much on the health of medical practitioners and nurses, but on patient safety. It is argued that patients have higher survivability rates when patient handoffs/shift changes are kept to a minimum. The focus has never been on the health of doctors, nurses, X-Ray technicians, etc. but from a public health perspective. This has far-reaching consequences in its…

I've just been reading Why we sleep by Matthew Walker. In it he mentions doctors will on average kill one patient during their residency due to sleep deprivation.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#209

Post by krageon »

nprateem wrote: post #201
krageon wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not work time in the sense that you will be paid for it though, which is usually the metric people use. Unless I am missing something.

True, but then a lot of people in permanent jobs don't get paid extra for overtime anyway. I mean it more from the perspective of how much of your day you're "on", and that leisure/other activities aren't necessarily mutually exclusive to thinking about work related tasks, which can make you more productive during your usual paid hours.

> True, but then a lot of people in permanent jobs don't get paid extra for overtime anyway.

Can you specify what countr(y|ies) this applies to? It is most certainly not the case where I am.

> I mean it more from the perspective of how much of your day you're "on"

I'm firmly of the belief that if you spend a lot of your leisure time thinking about work, perhaps you have an unhealthy work/life balance. You are of course correct that it is possible to still do so. I don't agree with the point that this should be counted or even is work time. It is free time you have sacrificed to your job, without compensation. Work with no compensation doesn't satisfy the conditions for what I consider to be employment.

Re: People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

#210

Post by awesomepeter »

haihaibye wrote: post #206
Rescis wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To start, we are at 7.53 /billion/, not trillion. Second, ever single time someone has said that overpopulation was going to be the end of us, they've been wrong. To quote Wikipedia, which go so far back as Ancient Carthage and Greece: Concern about overpopulation is an ancient topic. Tertullian was a resident of the city of Carthage in the second century CE, when the population of the world was about 190 million (on…

> that with every new person born, that is a new person thinking of scientific advancements that can be made Smarts for scienfic advancement is not evenly spread across global populations. It's possible to have population growth while the high IQ fraction shrinks. All evidence says this is the current state of the earth.

What evidence? Afaik average IQ is constantly rising: https://ourworldindata.org/intelligence#iq-gains-over-time-a...
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