

I'm Working 12 Hours a Day. How I'm Getting Through It. - bluebit
http://www.startupceo.co.za/2010/01/13/im-working-12-hours-a-day-here-are-5-ways-im-getting-through-it/

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msluyter
_I’m also on flax seed oil, nature’s highest source of Omega 3’s which are
vital for brain function._

My understanding is that flax seed oil contains omega-3s in a form that's not
immediately usable by the body (linolenic acid), and the conversion process is
inefficient. Check out this post from the excellent Heart Scan Blog:

[http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/omega-3-must-be-
fr...](http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/omega-3-must-be-from-fish-
oil.html)

He's talking mostly in terms of heart health, and notes that flax oil may have
other anti-inflammatory benefits, but it seems that if your goal is getting
the most omega-3s for your buck, fish oil is a better source.

------
SwellJoe
Here's how I get through 12-hour days: I don't do 12-hour days.

~~~
joeyo
Degenerate cases are often not as interesting.

~~~
SwellJoe
I'm sorry, I have to ask: Who is the degenerate case here?

~~~
joeyo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degeneracy_(mathematics)>

~~~
SwellJoe
That doesn't help. I'm not a mathematical figure, nor is the author of the
article. The non-mathematical meaning of "degenerate", which I was already
familiar with, also failed to make it clear to me. I still do not know what
your comment means.

~~~
joeyo
I'm not referring to you, I'm referring to your comment that you get through a
12 hour day by not working a 12 hour day. It may be a technically valid
statement but it's completely uninteresting. It's like saying that the best
way to become a millionaire is to have a million dollars.

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jsm386
_I’m staying away from pretty much anything thats not directly from the
ground. I am also taking several brain helper pills to increase the uptake of
seratonin, improve concentration and memory and keep me feeling alert 24/7._

What is a brain helper pill? The author says he is 'staying away from pretty
much anything thats not directly from the ground' so I guess that rules out
Adderall, etc.

~~~
potatolicious
Thats struck me as odd too - he's avoiding anything unnatural and man-made,
but feels no issue with popping a bunch of pharmaceutical chemicals?

No offense to the author, and I'm glad if the above strategies are working out
for him, but this smells a little like too much new-age health food mania. I
too know people who swear by organic foods and will spend hours lecturing you
on the dangers of industrialized food production... and have a row of
pharmaceuticals they pop daily.

This reminds me altogether of the Jonathan Coulton song: "I Feel Fantastic"
(look up lyrics if you don't know it).

~~~
khafra
Caffeine's the obvious guess, but Vinpocetine is a nootropic made from
periwinkles, and there may be others.

~~~
silentbicycle
He says "no coffee". Apparently it's neither natural enough nor "pure brain-
food" enough.

Piracetam is another popular nootropic. It's cheap, well-studied (as
nootropics go, anyway), and probably pretty benign.

My unrequested advice is that if you're thinking about taking nootropics, you
should probably make sure you're eating reasonably well and getting enough
sleep and exercise first. _Then_ consider the trade-offs.

------
SamAtt
This article made me hate this guy. It's not his fault. I'm being unreasonable
and I know it. But when I read this all I can think is "Does this guy realize
that Poor people have been managing 12 hour days without a problem even
without all this new age junk"

Again, I'm being unreasonably rough on him it just feels like he's denigrating
all those hard working people who have to work 12 hours a day to survive and
don't have the hundreds of dollars to spend on spiffy pills and organic food.

~~~
pgbovine
i think that _all_ such blog posts operate under the assumption that you're a
reasonably-educated middle-class person who doesn't have to work extreme hours
or in poor conditions just to survive and put food on the table. i think if
you're worrying about putting food on the table, you probably aren't the
target audience for HN.

~~~
robryan
I'd kind of disagree in terms of people that are working on there start up
only which is profitable yet.

------
elblanco
Pishh pashhhh....those aren't even real hours. 12 hours days (and at least 30%
of the weekend) is pretty much expected in an average corporate world
management job these days.

I don't think I've even worked less than 10 hour days in the last 6 years, and
once burned through about 2000 hours in 4 months (if you want to absolutely
and completely loose track of time, those are the kind of hours to work, when
2-weeks _feel_ like 2 days, you know you are working too much).

That being said, maintaining a healthy diet and sticking to some kind of
exercise routine is really critical to keeping stress levels down.

~~~
donaldc
_I don't think I've even worked less than 10 hour days in the last 6 years,
and once burned through about 2000 hours in 4 months_

I hope you're getting paid a fortune, or better yet are working for yourself,
because 2000 hours in 4 months is 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. I cannot
think of a single corporate job that would be worth that kind of hell.

~~~
elblanco
It was on one particular contract for that period about a year before I went
to work at my present startup company.

It _was_ crazy I'll admit, I'm unlikely to want to do that kind of compressed
work schedule again.

I actually didn't see daylight for most of that time and ran mostly on
something I think was an adrenaline high. The sense of accomplishment at the
end of it was enormous.

It was a crazy rewarding experience both in terms of self-satisfaction and in
the wallet. I made a year's salary + about another 20% in bonus pay + a few
other interesting compensation pieces.

More importantly, for that 12 month work year I managed to accrue the
equivalent of 2.5 years of experience by hours and in terms of total output
with that contract and some other long hour work, likely more since I had 100%
focus on that work with absolutely no room for interruption, it's had a
amazing impact on my career trajectory because I can point to that remarkable
output and all of the spin-off developments that came from that body of work.
In addition, I probably learned more in that 4 months that I had in my
previous 4 years of work. It also landed me my current position as employee
#(some single digit) with my company and put me immediately into a position of
significant responsibility.

It's also given me good perspective on how much I'm worth when negotiating
salary as well as how abysmally few hours are in a 9-5 40 hour week and how
little work I can get done in that time by comparison.

I wouldn't recommend it for most people though, it was a pretty big sacrifice,
but I'd wager that if I were to become employee #0 and startup my own company
with my own $$$'s I'd work about those hours to see it off the ground.

------
vaksel
I find that the key to going through long work days is to have a routine.

Out of my 16.5 hours of being awake, 14 hours go towards my startup.

Come to think of it, I think I'll write up a post about it. Since it'd be a
wall of text on HN otherwise.

Ok here it is: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1051217>

------
billybob
1) Writing blog posts instead of going home early

------
edw519
_What are some of your secrets for combating work overload?_

My single biggest secret for continuing to get things done, often working 12
hour days and 6 day weeks, is to love what I do.

I do not think of it as "work", as something to "get through", or as something
difficult, unusual, "overload", or temporary. Quite simply, I sit at my
computer 12 hours per day, every day, because _I want to_ , I love what I do,
and I can't imagine doing anything else. I have been working like this for
years.

In fact, I feel sorry for anyone else who doesn't feel this way. What a sad
life to be spending so much time doing something that you have to force
yourself to do.

Some of the things I have arranged in my life to enable me to do what I love:

I eat similarly to you. It's a great idea no matter what your circumstances
are.

I also exercise regularly, 20 minutes, 3 to 6 times per week. I mix it up and
only do things I love: 5 rites, pushups & pullups, jogging, swimming,
heavyhands, shovelglove, bodyweight exercises, and even a day or 2 at the gym
on their machines.

Breakfast at my desk, lunch away from my desk, dinner and Jeopardy with my SO
every night without exception.

At least one date night per week, with an extra beer or two just in case it's
a chick flick.

I never text, tweet, blog, IM, or facebook. I do respond to voicemail and
email regularly. Everyone I know understands this.

Ipod, radio, and 3 cats keep me company. Occasionally I bring a small TV into
the office for football games (I'm getting more work done now that the
Steelers have been eliminated :-(. )

I like to work in 48 minute bursts, with a 12 minute break each hour for
email, internet, snack, or anything else.

[http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/2006/09/the-power-
of...](http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress/2006/09/the-power-
of-48-minutes/)

