It has to come from within. A person has to decide to change. That realization can come from a shock or external motivation but that wears off pretty quickly and people can always rationalize things. I’ve lost 8 kgs since september and have gone from over weight to normal weight. I’ve tried that many times over the past several years without any success. I honestly don’t know why I stuck with it this time. I did develop a personal strategy that helped, but it takes determination more than anything.
Tons of respect for making the right call - that's hard to do, but you know you'll never regret it in the long run.
Do you think those 16 hours would've really been more productive than if the environment/culture allowed for, say, 15 hours and you'd have 1 hour more for just "life". Or even as far as 12.
Curious whether it really becomes net positive productivity. I feel like it really doesn't work to push past a certain point so I'm wondering more and more why the hell do we all do it so often haha?
Oh, I wasn't forced to work 16 hours. It wasn't crunch-time, or anything. The company and the team was reasonably supportive about work-life balance.
But the project I was working on was very interesting, my tasks were also pretty interesting, the team was mostly assembled of competent people, and I enjoyed every second I spent on the project - I actually tried to spend as much time on it as I could. Was almost like an addiction... I just kind of neglected many other things.
Woah that's funny I feel like your putting to words something I've felt many times haha. The addiction/interest + neglect of other stuff has happened to me more times than I care to admit.
Totally totally agree. It's completely valid that many folks have much more challenging home lives that demand so much energy.
I wonder though if there's a path where sacrificing some amount of time at work could eek out net-positive output over the right timeline.
It's just hard not to feel for seeing folks stuck in the spiral of trying to manage so much. And I just wonder whether -- if, say, their employer gave them the space to do so -- if spending just some time on getting "healthier" could help.
Sitting here on a keyboard in abstract though I'm obviously oversimplifying and can't deny at all how hard things are for folks balancing both a demanding work and home situation.
"if, say, their employer gave them the space to do so -- if spending just some time on getting "healthier" could help."
Maybe for a few, but most home issues aren't easily or quickly solved. Some really can't be (kids are a lifelong commitment whether you can handle it or not).
You could start by pushing for a 32 hour work week with your Congress Critters with heavy OT penalties for employers, even if the employee is salaried.
It just feels inefficient though to me a bit. There's been plenty of times in my life where I've been in "grind" mode and sleeping less, eating poorly, not working out, etc. in order to be "more productive".
But in all cases, looking back, I feel like I was really just spinning my wheels. Like if I were to take those months here and there and work 1 hour less each day to just eat a salad, take a walk, sleep more -- I feel like I'd probably have made better contributions to our goals.
Hard to know since it's all a bit of a retrospective exercise.
