What's your preferred work-life balance?

[CappyAA]

I'm sitting on a conference call last night about who-knows-what, and I start staring at the clock as it's already past 8; however, everyone on the phone is still going off on random tangents left and right. I was pretty much obsessing over the fact that I just wanted to go home, while everyone else seemed to be working hard and very interested as to the meaningless dribble anyone had to say.

So that got me thinking that everyone obviously has a different work-life balance. Some people don't mind putting in working 12 hour days, while some people (like myself) really get burned out very easily. Perhaps it's because I don't love my job - I just don't hate it.

How big of a priority is a good work-life balance to you? Would it change a lot if you loved your job vs. having a job you just "tolerate"?

I'm the kind of person who really tresures my personal and social life. I'll work my 40-45 hours per week with zero complaints. But when it starts getting into 10-12+ hour days on average, that's when I have problems. Yet many of the people that work for my company seem to put these 10-12+ hour days in on a regular basis and it doesn't seem to bother them.

[guids]

my goal is to find/start a business where I want to work 20 hours a day, or at least if I do work 20 hours I dont notice it.

[z28dreams]

Cappy,

Nothing pisses me off more than meetings like this where people are just wasting time.

I also firmly believe that there's no reason to work more than 8 hours a day, because people just aren't that efficient. There are days that I get more done in 2 hours than I'll do for 3 days. It's more of a culture thing in consulting, IB, law, etc.

I look forward to the day that I can work on my own clock.

[CappyAA]

[ QUOTE ]

Nothing pisses me off more than meetings like this where people are just wasting time.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is my biggest problem. I don't mind working really long hours if I feel work needs to get done, but sitting around in meetings discussing things that are way out of scope is just not my idea of a good use of time.

I'm not even complaining about my job either. I work on a contract to contact type thing, so I could be off for a little bit between contracts yet still get paid.

I think a lot of the problem is image as well. The people that stay for 12 hours a day get promoted faster. Other people see this and stay for 12 hours a day as well. Next thing you know, everyone is staying for 12 hours a day, and you feel bad for leaving after 8-10.

[z28dreams]

[ QUOTE ]
People that stay for 12 hours a day get promoted faster. Other people see this and stay for 12 hours a day as well. Next thing you know, everyone is staying for 12 hours a day, and you feel bad for leaving after 8-10.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya, this is exactly it. People in my office do this too - it used to be that people worked until 5:30, then it was 6, 6:30, now it's closer to 7pm. The truth is, everyone is just waiting around for the boss to leave and browsing the web those last few hours, but they do it to look good.

[wslee00]

For me, it depends on the type of work i'm currently doing.

Being a programmer, if i have to work on maintenance tasks, things that might take 2 hours for me stretch to 2 days - and yeah, I stay in the office about 8 hours a day (maybe less).

When there's a new impt project rolling around with lots of new stuff to do i'll do things in one 12 hour day that might take someone else 5-6 days to do.

[Aloysius]

[ QUOTE ]
Cappy,

Nothing pisses me off more than meetings like this where people are just wasting time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Completely agree, thank you Mute button for conference calls.

[ QUOTE ]
I also firmly believe that there's no reason to work more than 8 hours a day, because people just aren't that efficient. There are days that I get more done in 2 hours than I'll do for 3 days. It's more of a culture thing in consulting, IB, law, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you done IB? This is not true at all in my experience. It's not very efficient but there are deals where you have no choice but to work 80-100 hours a week to get it done.

As for law... explain how to meet 3,000+ billable hours a year (not face time, hours justified / billed to a client) without working crazy hours, just do the math.

-Al

[El Diablo]

Cappy,

"I think a lot of the problem is image as well. The people that stay for 12 hours a day get promoted faster. Other people see this and stay for 12 hours a day as well."

Get your work done faster and better than others in less time and take some actions to let people know it. Maybe sacrifice a bit by being accessible.

So, let's say most people are working 8-8 to get their crap done becasue they suck compared to you. You get more done and leave at 6. Now figure out a good reason to send an email to appropriate folks that mentions the fact that all your stuff is done. Also maybe mention "if anyone needs anything else, feel free to email/call." And then maybe spend ten minutes late at night responding to a couple of emails.

Taking a few actions like this will let you escape that "in the office a lot jsut for appearances sake" stupid race and change the perception of you from "that dude isn't around very much" to "that guy is always super on top of stuff."

[kidcolin]

40-50 hours a week is fine for me. Lately it's been 60-70. Not a big fan.

I think a 6 hour day would be ideal. I used to love when I got out of work at 2:30 in the afternoon, but I had to be there at 6. If I could do an 8-2 or even 8-3 shift it'd be money.

[Fast Food Knight]

It's hard to say. A year ago I would have said 0% work 100% life, but after spending 5 months unemployed, I got bored as hell, had no structure, found it difficult to take care of simple errands because I was always just sitting around. I suppose I would prefer working half time, 4 hours a day 5 days a week, but it's hard to say what seems ideal until you've tried it.