4 ms·

I'll stand up for the US system. I personally like it. I don't like "vacations". What do you really gain just spending a couple weeks elsewhere? I don't eve

by daxfohl 11y ago

I'll stand up for the US system. I personally like it. I don't like "vacations". What do you really gain just spending a couple weeks elsewhere? I don't even particularly care for weekends. I'd far rather be able to really focus on work, really getting stuff done, not have to deal with coworkers all being on vacation, saving hard for retirement or whatever, and then every couple years, go off and do something completely different (paid or unpaid). And I'm certainly not saying this from a "this proves American workers are the most hardworking" junk attitude. I simply find life more enjoyable this way. Then, that's my young, single self talking. Perhaps with a family moderation is more important. EDIT: People are misunderstanding my post, assuming I mean I don't do anything but work. On the contrary I've been to 30+ countries, lived in 5, biked across Asia, spent a year teaching English in Korea. This is difficult with just "vacation time". PLUS this style allows me to be really focused on / interested in my work when I'm in that phase of life.

tonyedgecombe 11y ago
I suspect you are in the minority.
iSnow 11y ago
Do you really have zero interests than those met at work? Never want to see other countries, or at least other parts of your country? Never want to spend times out of the office in nature? I am very happy I have six weeks of vacation and I have to take them or get written up. To me, there's more to life than delivering the next iteration of some product.
- daxfohl 11y ago
  Exactly my point: On the contrary I've been to 30+ countries, lived in 5, biked across Asia, spent a year teaching English in Korea. You can't do this with "vacations".
  - ctolsen 11y ago
    I don't see why you can't go on vacation even if you take a couple months off on a sabbatical every couple of years. It's mostly about financial priorities, especially for most people on HN.
st0p 11y ago
You might want to see elephants in the wild, or the Mona Lisa or just go surfing or whatever. I really don't understand this mindset. Don't get me wrong: I like working. But the bottomline is that I'm working to live. I'm not living to work.
- david-given 11y ago
  The Mona Lisa's not with it - it's very small, kept in the dark, and they won't let you near enough to it to get a good look. You really do get a better impression of it from reproductions. Go to Glasgow instead and take a look at Dali's _Christ of Saint John of the Cross_ instead. It's huge and absolutely stunning.
  - daxfohl 11y ago
    Ha, yeah I spent a week in Paris, never bothered to go to the Louvre at all. Chartres is well worth a day trip though.
    - prawn 11y ago
      The Louvre is great. It's just the Mona Lisa which gets a disproportionate amount of attention. Luckily, it distracts the crowds.
    - noelsusman 11y ago
      That's crazy. The Louvre is amazing. You could spend an entire week in there.
  - st0p 11y ago
    Totally agree about the Mona Lisa, but I just needed an iconic piece of art that everybody knows ;)
ctolsen 11y ago
Good for you, and maybe you're an outlier, but everything we know about work tells us that this is counterproductive. It's good for productivity, health, and well-being if people get to disconnect completely from work. As a company, it doesn't even make sense to have people work like you do, because they are more creative and productive if they do take time off. One study reported on here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2014/02/28/take-a-vacation-its-good-for-productivity-and-the-economy-according-to-a-new-study/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2014/02/28/take-a-vaca... – and there are plenty of similar results elsewhere. But, by all means, if this is how you enjoy life then go right ahead. I and many other people wouldn't like that lifestyle though.
- daxfohl 11y ago
  The odd thing is, I don't see how someone can disconnect completely from work for just a week or two. I recently took a two-week trip to BC and even ditched my laptop for the 2nd week, but nonetheless was thinking about work a good portion of that time.
dan00 11y ago
> I'll stand up for the US system. I personally like it. I don't like "vacations". What do you really gain just spending a couple weeks elsewhere? I don't even particularly care for weekends. It's ok if you like it that way now. The problem with that much focus on work is, that if the work is gone nothing is left. The most extreme case is if people enter retirement and they literally have no more meaning in their life, because they never learned living without work.
mirsadm 11y ago
One can do that when they are younger, don't have a family or other commitments that would make those sorts of trips impossible (from your edit). If you are unable to do that, would you then just work all the time until you retire?
- daxfohl 11y ago
  That's a great question. Honestly I don't know the answer. I'm actually married now with two young kids in suburban America, and with husband and wife (her ideals are pretty similar to mine) not-quite-content, and hoping to figure something out. My ideal would be to do something like http://technomancy.us/ http://technomancy.us/, one of the big developers at Heroku, who is taking time off with his family to go do missionary work in rural Thailand, teaching his kids electronics, and meanwhile supporting himself selling custom keyboards.
marquis 11y ago
>every couple years, go off and do something completely different You mean, like take a vacation? You are saying exactly the same thing but with the time-scale different. I agree on that: work hard for 10 months, no days off. 2 months completely out of the office. But that assumes excellent health and no family.
- monort 11y ago
  He doesn't need an approval from his employer for this type of vacation. A lot of people don't realize that you can do it that way.
klean92 11y ago
Why all this downvoting of this comment? You may disagree, he may be an outlier, but it's respectfully stated, and does not imply this is a universal truth. There is more information in a viewpoint out of the ordinary.

by daxfohl 11y ago

tonyedgecombe 11y ago

I suspect you are in the minority.

iSnow 11y ago

Do you really have zero interests than those met at work? Never want to see other countries, or at least other parts of your country? Never want to spend times out of the office in nature? I am very happy I have six weeks of vacation and I have to take them or get written up. To me, there's more to life than delivering the next iteration of some product.

daxfohl 11y ago
Exactly my point: On the contrary I've been to 30+ countries, lived in 5, biked across Asia, spent a year teaching English in Korea. You can't do this with "vacations".
- ctolsen 11y ago
  I don't see why you can't go on vacation even if you take a couple months off on a sabbatical every couple of years. It's mostly about financial priorities, especially for most people on HN.

st0p 11y ago

You might want to see elephants in the wild, or the Mona Lisa or just go surfing or whatever. I really don't understand this mindset. Don't get me wrong: I like working. But the bottomline is that I'm working to live. I'm not living to work.

david-given 11y ago
The Mona Lisa's not with it - it's very small, kept in the dark, and they won't let you near enough to it to get a good look. You really do get a better impression of it from reproductions. Go to Glasgow instead and take a look at Dali's _Christ of Saint John of the Cross_ instead. It's huge and absolutely stunning.
- daxfohl 11y ago
  Ha, yeah I spent a week in Paris, never bothered to go to the Louvre at all. Chartres is well worth a day trip though.
  - prawn 11y ago
    The Louvre is great. It's just the Mona Lisa which gets a disproportionate amount of attention. Luckily, it distracts the crowds.
  - noelsusman 11y ago
    That's crazy. The Louvre is amazing. You could spend an entire week in there.
- st0p 11y ago
  Totally agree about the Mona Lisa, but I just needed an iconic piece of art that everybody knows ;)

ctolsen 11y ago

Good for you, and maybe you're an outlier, but everything we know about work tells us that this is counterproductive. It's good for productivity, health, and well-being if people get to disconnect completely from work. As a company, it doesn't even make sense to have people work like you do, because they are more creative and productive if they do take time off. One study reported on here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2014/02/28/take-a-vacation-its-good-for-productivity-and-the-economy-according-to-a-new-study/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2014/02/28/take-a-vaca... – and there are plenty of similar results elsewhere. But, by all means, if this is how you enjoy life then go right ahead. I and many other people wouldn't like that lifestyle though.

daxfohl 11y ago
The odd thing is, I don't see how someone can disconnect completely from work for just a week or two. I recently took a two-week trip to BC and even ditched my laptop for the 2nd week, but nonetheless was thinking about work a good portion of that time.

dan00 11y ago

> I'll stand up for the US system. I personally like it. I don't like "vacations". What do you really gain just spending a couple weeks elsewhere? I don't even particularly care for weekends. It's ok if you like it that way now. The problem with that much focus on work is, that if the work is gone nothing is left. The most extreme case is if people enter retirement and they literally have no more meaning in their life, because they never learned living without work.

mirsadm 11y ago

One can do that when they are younger, don't have a family or other commitments that would make those sorts of trips impossible (from your edit). If you are unable to do that, would you then just work all the time until you retire?

daxfohl 11y ago
That's a great question. Honestly I don't know the answer. I'm actually married now with two young kids in suburban America, and with husband and wife (her ideals are pretty similar to mine) not-quite-content, and hoping to figure something out. My ideal would be to do something like http://technomancy.us/ http://technomancy.us/, one of the big developers at Heroku, who is taking time off with his family to go do missionary work in rural Thailand, teaching his kids electronics, and meanwhile supporting himself selling custom keyboards.

marquis 11y ago

>every couple years, go off and do something completely different You mean, like take a vacation? You are saying exactly the same thing but with the time-scale different. I agree on that: work hard for 10 months, no days off. 2 months completely out of the office. But that assumes excellent health and no family.

monort 11y ago
He doesn't need an approval from his employer for this type of vacation. A lot of people don't realize that you can do it that way.

klean92 11y ago

Why all this downvoting of this comment? You may disagree, he may be an outlier, but it's respectfully stated, and does not imply this is a universal truth. There is more information in a viewpoint out of the ordinary.