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On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

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Re: On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

#91

Post by luffapi »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #90
luffapi wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working more than 40 hours a week has diminishing (or negative) returns. Proper scaling means delegation and systems. Grinding away isn’t just unproductive, it’s a sign of a poorly run company.

Here's a relevant 2016 thread with JohnCarmack discussing the 40 hour work week. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845832

The game industry has notoriously poor working conditions. It’s changed a bit since he said this but yeah, never work for someone who thinks like this. He’s wrong, it’s survivorship bias on his end.

Re: On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

#92

Post by llampx »

t-writescode wrote: post #64
toomuchtodo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/work-life-balance-and-jugg... “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If…

I hear more about the American hatred of redemption in that speech than the harmability of oneself from overwork. A person that has truly amended his relationships seems to have stronger ones than one who always had ‘fine’ ones, in many cases. Scrooge may not have become as beloved and loving a person without his repentance journey.

American hatred of redemption? [Citation needed] for sure.

Relationships can survive a lot, but not every relationship can survive a lot, and sure there may be relationships that survive a lot of neglect but including those means you're falling for survivorship bias.

A child that hasn't seen her parent in the formative years of childhood because they were too busy at work isn't going to be able to relate to her parent the same as a child who was able to. I see that with some of my acquaintances and their relationship with their father.

Re: On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

#93

Post by fuzzfactor »

luffapi wrote: post #84
fuzzfactor wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Working more than 40 hours a week has diminishing (or negative) returns. This can be so true. In the 24/7 operation it's important to recognize how this can occur and do whatever it takes to work around it. OTOH making progress with unique electronics (which is not going to last forever anyway) can be done in an ordinary company if the ordinary company work can be accomplished in 35 hours instead of 40, and the resu…

Your equation is missing a critical factor: performance degrades as you work more hours. When it comes to technical work, you can actually cause quite a bit of damage working in a degraded state. Bugs, missed opportunities for creative solutions, technical debt…

>missed opportunities for creative solutions

This is what really hurts me, when you put a lot of overtime into a project and you come across so many unforseen opportunities that you won't be able to investigate further.

If I had the necessary staff for what I'm already doing I wouldn't be working after hours so much my damn self.

Now I know I'm not alone in a random org having nominal amounts of technical debt before I got there, but if I don't work harder than average to function around it, it will end up bugging me an average amount and that's too much for me.

One of these days I'm definitely going to take your advice and quit.

If you're capable of 5x progress under such nonideal conditions imagine what you could do without such a dysfunctional org.

Re: On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

#95

Post by thewileyone »

When I was younger, single and more foolish, I did work late and I did have personal projects that I was interested in. However, if I had a social or family thing to go to, I'd drop what I was doing to have some fun.

There was a period when I was at a startup and I put aside my social life for work and that's when I burnt out.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" really is true.

Re: On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others

#97

Post by theriddlr »

username90 wrote: post #65
toomuchtodo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/work-life-balance-and-jugg... “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If…

Friends and family bounce back as well. As you get more free time you go out and get new friends, or you contact your family or old friends again. The only problem is health, you don't really get that back easily. Of course it is harder to get them back than the keep them constant, but the same applies to jobs as well, the longer you have been without a job the harder it is to get back, but it is still not that hard.

Elderly family members might die before you retire. Spending time with your child when they are all grown up won't make up for missing out on their formative years.
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