Comments on: Balancing Work And Life

By: Danilo Domínguez

Danilo Domínguez — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:15:03 +0000

I agree with you. It’s a pity that many times you have to live this, to realize where you are wrong.

Greetings…

By: snipe

snipe — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 09:38:36 +0000

Philip – I completely agree – I have to remind myself of that as well. (And I don’t think I knew what you looked like ’til just now.. lol)

By: Brandon Savage

Brandon Savage — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:51:11 +0000

I completely agree. And it’s worth noting that balance is important in all aspects of our lives.

By: Philip Olson

Philip Olson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:49:38 +0000

On a related note, there’s also the balancing act of life and time spent on Open Source projects. Like for example, committing to the PHP Project itself. It’s easy to overextend yourself with OS, too, and end up creating well-intentioned broken promises and/or burn outs.

By: snipe

snipe — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:15:30 +0000

Excellent reminders, Brandon. One thing I can say about having a commute as fugly as mine is, I don’t have much time to pick up extra work on the side. While that’s frustrating that I don’t get to make as much extra money as I’d like, it prevents me from being the raging stress beast I used to be. I used to work 15+ hours a day plus weekends, never took a vacation, and always felt overwhelmed.

Now, since I work full-time and lose so much time while commuting, I only take on projects I really *want* to work on.

I’m not recommending a 4.5 hour a day commute, by ANY means, but for me, it puts just enough time out of my reach that I don’t overcommit as much.

By: Brandon Savage

Brandon Savage — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:28:25 +0000

Thanks all for your comments.

There seems to be some confusion about #4. I agree, you should be taking every weekend off. Most of the time, I do take every weekend off. What I was referring to is not the run-of-the-mill developer but one who runs his/her own business and sometimes doesn’t have that option.

In cases where working some weekends is unavoidable, it is imperative that you take at LEAST one a month off. But you should fight as hard as you can to take every weekend off. You need the rest. Your body needs the rest. Your brain needs the rest.

I’ve gotten my workload to where I take three or four weekends a month off; that’s the real place I want to be (and where I think everyone should be).

By: Eli White

Eli White — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:09:20 +0000

A good post … except, you should be taking EVERY weekend off. Not just one a month.

By: Nivaldo Arruda

Nivaldo Arruda — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:10:48 +0000

“Remember that you work to live, not the other way around. ”
That sentence says it all. Be a good professional is not only do all the work, but work to reconcile with personal life.

Great post.

By: Spike

Spike — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:46:10 +0000

Very good points here although I think that you must take more weekends off every month, not just one

By: Bill Karwin

Bill Karwin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:50:32 +0000

Good post! I agree about working too hard. I have learned that you don’t actually get more out of those extra hours, because when you’re tired the work you do is not as good. You may even have to re-do the work, because it’s so poor. So there’s no real purpose to working a self-destructive schedule.

In the current uncertain economic times, you might be tempted to work harder to be “indispensable”, but you simply can’t squeeze blood from a stone. Clients or bosses who place that demand on you don’t deserve your work!

I made a post recently that echoes a couple of your other points: http://karwin.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-do-you-reward-good-clients.html

By: Whitney Turland

Whitney Turland — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:17:50 +0000

Preach it brother!

I do need to pick up that no-jackass rule though. That’s a good one.

PS. Think you can forward this to my husband? By forward, I mean SPAM the hell out of him? kkthxbai!