5 ms·

How are you supposed to find time to exercise when you're working 10-12 hours a day? I can barely find time to clean my apartment. And if you're not (can I hav

by gorena 11y ago

How are you supposed to find time to exercise when you're working 10-12 hours a day? I can barely find time to clean my apartment. And if you're not (can I have your job?), you're probably less likely to be burning out.

kelvin0 11y ago
It's called Work-Life balance, discipline and knowing what your priorities are.
- gorena 11y ago
  Unfortunately, my priority is surviving until a year at this place is up, so that I can quit without potentially being labeled a job hopper. I don't want to damage my career permanently.
  - tormeh 11y ago
    Try push-ups and hang-ups at home once per day. You have a floor, so push-ups are always available. Anything strong enough above-head will do for hang-ups: A staircase, with overhead steps you can grab hold off or a horizontal beam. If your landlord is fine with it, you can install a hang-up bar in a doorway.
    - kaybe 11y ago
      Someone put those up in our office, including a personal highscore sheet to mark your progress.
- g0v 11y ago
  This. At the end of the day it's up to you to find/make the time to balance your life out. I've been learning a lot lately about balance, it's more important than I used to think. FIND BALANCE!
btbuildem 11y ago
Don't work 10-12 hours a day ... that's how you burn out.
- gorena 11y ago
  I agree. I wish everyone else at this company did.
  - rckclmbr 11y ago
    If everyone else at your company jumped off a cliff, would you? Because that's basically what they're doing.
  - x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
    That should be one of the questions you ask the company during an interview. It shouldn't be a surprise you face after starting the job.
  - thibaut_barrere 11y ago
    Maybe it's worth considering looking for a new job (even if you are new in the company, as you mentioned somewhere else).
wil421 11y ago
Sounds like you need a new job. I did the work 40 hours a week and go to undergrad, needless to say I was completely burnt out at my job and school. Once you're burnt out it's hard to not have the same thoughts and feelings after you change jobs (or roles/habits, finish school etc.).
- gorena 11y ago
  I don't think I can quit until next year, due to the "job hopper" label - I've only been here for six months. My health has definitely taken a downhill turn... before I was at the gym 3/4 times a week, plus bike rides. Now it's one or two, and that comes at the cost of being able to do other things. I definitely agree with this article.
  - a_c_s 11y ago
    Being at one job for a short period doesn't make you a job hopper, rather it is about the long-term pattern. You can honestly say to potential future employers that this job is just a poor fit. Better to cut your losses early (and save your health) rather than tough it out for something others may not even care about.
  - ashark 11y ago
    Unsolicited advice time! Start looking for another job ASAP. Raise your salary expectations to at least 10% over what you make now. Name a figure at least 15% higher early in negotiations, if you get cornered in to picking a number first. Consider going higher than these minimums. 20%. Maybe 25%. Don't drop your starting bid until you've failed to land at least two jobs due solely to salary expectation mismatches. You may be surprised at how accepting people are of a slightly-nicer-worded version of "why do I want to leave so soon? The job is shit, that's why", especially if you can frame it as "it's not advancing my career as I expected blah blah blah". And really, six months isn't that bad. I know lots of very successful people with multiple entries like that in their work history. Since you can't really use anyone where you are now as a reference anyway (not for this particular job search, at least), if you haven't already been explicitly told you have to work 10-12 hours, consider cutting back to 8 hours/day cold-turkey and using the time you save to recover and to look for a job, at least until someone complains. (I'm assuming you're in tech and don't live in the middle of no-where. Hell, I do live in the middle of no-where by many people's standards, and anyone with even a hint of talent gets snapped up here fast. Job openings as far as the eye can see. It won't last forever—move while you can. It's musical chairs.)
Thriptic 11y ago
I work 10 hours per day and still make it to the gym for a few hours. I get in at 8:30, leave at 4:30, hit the gym and lift for a few hours, come back to work and work until 10 or 10:30, and then head home. Granted, I've optimized my life to be able to do that (I bring all my meals to work, I live within walking distance of work, my employer lets me store a prowler on site for when I choose to do cardio :D etc). If I couldn't make that schedule work then I would work less. The idea of giving up lifting is a non-starter for me.
- gorena 11y ago
  This is what I used to do while working remotely (so "walking distance" to the "office" was about a meter), and it had a the huge advantage of being at the gym when no one was using the equipment.
rleigh 11y ago
This is an unsustainable workload. It's not possible to work productively at this level for anything but the short term. Honestly, for how many hours of the day are you actually productive? Could you have worked more efficently and left after 8 hours instead of 10 or 12? As a cheeky example, if you've got time to read HN at work, could you cut that and similar time wasting activities out completely so that "work time" is limited to just work and get out of the door once the real work is done? WRT finding time to exercise, I go to the gym for an hour over lunch: 10 mins running, 30 mins doing weights and using various machines and another 10 mins running to wind down, then shower and back to work for the afternoon. Other days I go to the climbing wall and have an hour on the bouldering wall. Then back to the desk. I also usually cycle to work. The physical exercise makes me feel overall much better both physically and mentally. I can really tell the difference if I don't do anything for a few days. Physical exercise definitely reduces my stress.
- gorena 11y ago
  > Honestly, for how many hours of the day are you actually productive? Not very many. I would definitely love to leave at 5, and I know that this would make me more productive - in total! - not just per hour, but I don't want to deal with the fallout from it, since everyone else stays until after 7:30. I tend to get in at 8-9, while others come in 9-10, but no one can tell how early I was in. As is, I'm already typically among the earliest leaving, and it already feels weird.
  - rleigh 11y ago
    It sucks to have that kind of work culture, but it's really unhealthy for everyone involved. Is it at all possible to point out its flaws and make everyone's work-life balance better? Or to be the one to work sensible hours and make the rest realise what they are doing is pointless? (I know social pressures like this are very difficult to change, and I'm terrible at dealing with this type of thing myself. I'm actually very lucky in my present job that I can work flexible hours and 8 per day is totally acceptable--I could even get away with less if I really wanted, though I don't.) I spent a year working 12 hour day and night shifts, so I can certainly sympathise with the hours. I got a 6 mile cycle each way and wasn't entirely desk bound then (industrial laboratory) so physical exercise wasn't an issue.

by gorena 11y ago

kelvin0 11y ago

It's called Work-Life balance, discipline and knowing what your priorities are.

gorena 11y ago
Unfortunately, my priority is surviving until a year at this place is up, so that I can quit without potentially being labeled a job hopper. I don't want to damage my career permanently.
- tormeh 11y ago
  Try push-ups and hang-ups at home once per day. You have a floor, so push-ups are always available. Anything strong enough above-head will do for hang-ups: A staircase, with overhead steps you can grab hold off or a horizontal beam. If your landlord is fine with it, you can install a hang-up bar in a doorway.
  - kaybe 11y ago
    Someone put those up in our office, including a personal highscore sheet to mark your progress.
g0v 11y ago
This. At the end of the day it's up to you to find/make the time to balance your life out. I've been learning a lot lately about balance, it's more important than I used to think. FIND BALANCE!

btbuildem 11y ago

Don't work 10-12 hours a day ... that's how you burn out.

gorena 11y ago
I agree. I wish everyone else at this company did.
- rckclmbr 11y ago
  If everyone else at your company jumped off a cliff, would you? Because that's basically what they're doing.
- x3n0ph3n3 11y ago
  That should be one of the questions you ask the company during an interview. It shouldn't be a surprise you face after starting the job.
- thibaut_barrere 11y ago
  Maybe it's worth considering looking for a new job (even if you are new in the company, as you mentioned somewhere else).

wil421 11y ago

Sounds like you need a new job. I did the work 40 hours a week and go to undergrad, needless to say I was completely burnt out at my job and school. Once you're burnt out it's hard to not have the same thoughts and feelings after you change jobs (or roles/habits, finish school etc.).

gorena 11y ago
I don't think I can quit until next year, due to the "job hopper" label - I've only been here for six months. My health has definitely taken a downhill turn... before I was at the gym 3/4 times a week, plus bike rides. Now it's one or two, and that comes at the cost of being able to do other things. I definitely agree with this article.
- a_c_s 11y ago
  Being at one job for a short period doesn't make you a job hopper, rather it is about the long-term pattern. You can honestly say to potential future employers that this job is just a poor fit. Better to cut your losses early (and save your health) rather than tough it out for something others may not even care about.
- ashark 11y ago
  Unsolicited advice time! Start looking for another job ASAP. Raise your salary expectations to at least 10% over what you make now. Name a figure at least 15% higher early in negotiations, if you get cornered in to picking a number first. Consider going higher than these minimums. 20%. Maybe 25%. Don't drop your starting bid until you've failed to land at least two jobs due solely to salary expectation mismatches. You may be surprised at how accepting people are of a slightly-nicer-worded version of "why do I want to leave so soon? The job is shit, that's why", especially if you can frame it as "it's not advancing my career as I expected blah blah blah". And really, six months isn't that bad. I know lots of very successful people with multiple entries like that in their work history. Since you can't really use anyone where you are now as a reference anyway (not for this particular job search, at least), if you haven't already been explicitly told you have to work 10-12 hours, consider cutting back to 8 hours/day cold-turkey and using the time you save to recover and to look for a job, at least until someone complains. (I'm assuming you're in tech and don't live in the middle of no-where. Hell, I do live in the middle of no-where by many people's standards, and anyone with even a hint of talent gets snapped up here fast. Job openings as far as the eye can see. It won't last forever—move while you can. It's musical chairs.)

Thriptic 11y ago

I work 10 hours per day and still make it to the gym for a few hours. I get in at 8:30, leave at 4:30, hit the gym and lift for a few hours, come back to work and work until 10 or 10:30, and then head home. Granted, I've optimized my life to be able to do that (I bring all my meals to work, I live within walking distance of work, my employer lets me store a prowler on site for when I choose to do cardio :D etc). If I couldn't make that schedule work then I would work less. The idea of giving up lifting is a non-starter for me.

gorena 11y ago
This is what I used to do while working remotely (so "walking distance" to the "office" was about a meter), and it had a the huge advantage of being at the gym when no one was using the equipment.

rleigh 11y ago

This is an unsustainable workload. It's not possible to work productively at this level for anything but the short term. Honestly, for how many hours of the day are you actually productive? Could you have worked more efficently and left after 8 hours instead of 10 or 12? As a cheeky example, if you've got time to read HN at work, could you cut that and similar time wasting activities out completely so that "work time" is limited to just work and get out of the door once the real work is done? WRT finding time to exercise, I go to the gym for an hour over lunch: 10 mins running, 30 mins doing weights and using various machines and another 10 mins running to wind down, then shower and back to work for the afternoon. Other days I go to the climbing wall and have an hour on the bouldering wall. Then back to the desk. I also usually cycle to work. The physical exercise makes me feel overall much better both physically and mentally. I can really tell the difference if I don't do anything for a few days. Physical exercise definitely reduces my stress.

gorena 11y ago
> Honestly, for how many hours of the day are you actually productive? Not very many. I would definitely love to leave at 5, and I know that this would make me more productive - in total! - not just per hour, but I don't want to deal with the fallout from it, since everyone else stays until after 7:30. I tend to get in at 8-9, while others come in 9-10, but no one can tell how early I was in. As is, I'm already typically among the earliest leaving, and it already feels weird.
- rleigh 11y ago
  It sucks to have that kind of work culture, but it's really unhealthy for everyone involved. Is it at all possible to point out its flaws and make everyone's work-life balance better? Or to be the one to work sensible hours and make the rest realise what they are doing is pointless? (I know social pressures like this are very difficult to change, and I'm terrible at dealing with this type of thing myself. I'm actually very lucky in my present job that I can work flexible hours and 8 per day is totally acceptable--I could even get away with less if I really wanted, though I don't.) I spent a year working 12 hour day and night shifts, so I can certainly sympathise with the hours. I got a 6 mile cycle each way and wasn't entirely desk bound then (industrial laboratory) so physical exercise wasn't an issue.