
Tips for work-life balance - g3orge
http://matt.might.net/articles/work-life-balance/
======
tobiasu
"The internet" is a giant drain of time. In my final year in school, I
experimented with not getting internet access and instead relied on a friend
to update my Debian mirror and read mail in batches. My grades rocketed
skywards without me doing much of anything at all...

If you can, turn it off, in more or less drastic ways. Restrict sites like
this one with LeechBlock. Try recording yourself, then watch and experience
the pain... Never(tm) sit down in front of a computer without a hand-written
plan of things to do. Once the task is done, consciously plan the next one,
write it down, and repeat. GTD, Pomodoro all can help.

What works for you depends on many factors. Usually one or two of the
available techniques are enough to stop oneself from drifting around aimlessly
on the web.

We have created this giant information-distraction machine. We should
therefore also be able to control it...

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iyulaev
Solid post and there's a lot to agree with. However, one statement was
difficult to digest.

 __ _If factors like "health", "happiness", or "family" rank below
professional goals, your long-term priorities are not stable._ __

The second factor, happiness, is probably the most difficult of the three to
qualify. Professional goals and happiness may be intimately related for many
people, and activities that bring more immediate happiness may be ones that
detract from long-term satisfaction. Maybe a more accurate way to put this
would be to avoid pursuing __ _professional goals_ __if it involves
sacrificing __ _life goals_ __.

~~~
paulsutter
Agreed. I loved the methodical, organized view of the issue, but that sentence
bugged me too.

Specifically: I think it completely reasonable (possibly, recommended) to
decide "I'm going to prioritize work over having a family until age (30, 35,
40)".

The article completely misses the dimension of calendar time.

~~~
robotresearcher
Family does not only mean partner and kids. Most people have parents,
siblings, maybe nieces & nephews. You might choose to be available for them
too.

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ajdecon
Explicit boundaries are extremely helpful. Time-based boundaries like
mentioned in the OP are good ("disable Internet access at night"), but I've
found that location-based boundaries are also extremely helpful.

As an example: no work in the bedroom, _ever_. This includes reading work
email, doing web research, taking work calls, logging into a server, etc. If
you have to do something work-related, take it outside. This helps you (and
your partner, if you have one) keep good sleep hygiene, and also provides a
good barrier to obsessing with work. ("I could check my email, but do I really
want to get out of bed?")

This also applies to side-projects. Take it outside.

My wife and I have periodically enforced a "no screens in the bedroom" rule
(with exceptions for e-Ink), but this breaks down sometimes when we need to
have a phone in the room for emergencies, and when one or the other of us gets
obsessed with a new tablet game. ;-) But it's usually possible to at least
keep objects with physical keyboards out, which provides an additional
protection for me against cheating on the "no work" rule.

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bobsy
I used to work 7 days a week. Pretty much every hour was at a computer or
laptop. My partner wasn't happy and looking back I wasn't particularly happy
either.

To correct that I set specific work hours and chose not to work weekends.
Obviously there are exceptions to this. Sometimes work demands working a
little longer. Sometimes the world ends on a weekend. This is fine. However
these events should be few and far between.

I found though that I still wasn't too happy. I would get anxious and stressed
at the weekends. I discovered the reason for this was because I was still
checking my email. I would see bug reports or requests and I would anxiously
look at the time and realize it was still 32 hours till I started work on
Monday.

To fix that I stopped checking emails. If it is truly urgent I will get a
phone call. If it is "email urgent" it can almost always wait till Monday.

The result has been a much better work/life balance and I have been happier in
general.

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rdudekul
"productivity systems like The Pomodoro Technique are useful when it comes
time to execute tasks"

I highly recommend Pomodoro technique (<http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/>)
for greater productivity with less stress.

~~~
Swizec
I can't recommend Pomodoro enough for most tasks!

Don't use it for writing and similar things though, the breaks will be
noticeable in your output.

~~~
thirdtruck
Curious. I've actually found the opposite, even when writing fiction. In my
case, at least, I find that the mandatory breaks both keep me from diving too
deep down off-topic rabbit holes and free my subconscious to solve plot or
structure problems.

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apapli
One of the simplest ways I find to manage my work/life balanceis to deactivate
incoming emails on my iPhone over weekends.

It would be nice if you could automate it, but removing the inbox on Friday
night and reinstating it on Monday morning works like a charm.

Can be done with the flick of a switch in your mail settings in iOS. I am sure
there is something similar on android.

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Breefield
If you like this article you may also love Jack Cheng's "Maxing out Your
Triangle" which explains the love-growth-cash triangle.
[http://blog.jackcheng.com/post/2521829568/maxing-out-your-
tr...](http://blog.jackcheng.com/post/2521829568/maxing-out-your-triangle)

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joedev
It's almost like the diet and weight-loss industry. We spend way more time and
effort on trying to solve the problems than on preventing them in the first
place.

Want to balance work/life? Here's the secret formula which I'm giving away for
free today only:

Work 40 hours / week

Sleep 56 hours / week

Play 72 hours / week

This formula covers everything discussed in the blog post. What's surprising
about it is that it is nothing new!

We're way overthinking this. The American workforce has been getting up, going
to work, coming home and enjoying time with friends and family and hobbies for
decades without having an industry of workflow systems and work-life balance
editorials. But to make it this simple sells no books, attracts no seminar
attendees, and brings in no blog readers.

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daniel_sim
Two things me sane: I get up an hour earlier than I need to in the morning to
sit, think (high level/long term), plan and occasionally write. I set "Do not
disturb" on my phone to automatically enable at 6pm daily.

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jakub_g
Regarding the productivity thread:

Similar to the tactics of disabling internet access at certain intervals,
there's a good way to cut you off from compulsively checking Facebook,
LinkedIn etc. at work.

Create a very long, random password and store it in your computer (e.g.
KeePass Portable) but do not memorize it. That way you'll be unable to log in
at work unless you ask for password reset. If that's not enough, create a
special email account for time-suckers and do the same. Works like a charm.

It's a pity HN works for guest users ;)

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jnazario
i figured much of this out years ago. the biggest piece of advice i can
wholeheartedly recommend is be explicit about your priorities. once you do
that, everything falls into place, decisions become easy.

my wife is sometimes confused as to why i haven't taken certain jobs or career
paths but when i explain to her the impact it would have on things that are
more important to me, she seems to understand. about a year ago, i was
reminded of this in reading william whyte's "the organization man", in
particular the chapters about family. right then and there i made a decision,
i backed out of some job offers and have been pleased.

take care of yourself, that's the most basic lesson of all, and that doesn't
mean focusing strictly on finances (real or anticipated) or your career.

------
marvwhere
very good points.

right now i have the same problems...still studing, more then one job, setting
up/finishing my new apartment.

Respect to you, that u shotdown ur internet on ur laptop at 8.30pm - you never
enter ur router and deactivate this feature?

i will try to adopt some of your points to get rid of some stress in my life.

thank you.

~~~
swah
actually he said 6:30pm, heh

