4 ms·

Already looks like he's well into burn out territory. Those numbers have him spending more than a full normal work week per month on "procrastination". It look

Already looks like he's well into burn out territory. Those numbers have him spending more than a full normal work week per month on "procrastination". It looks to me that he's having an enormous amount of trouble focusing on work, and trying to compensate by working crazy hours. That's the vicious cycle of burnout -- eroded focus leads to more hours to get things done leads to further collapse in the ability to focus on anything.

vidarh 11y ago
I agree. Personally I generally don't believe most people are capable of even meeting 37-40 hours a week of productive time. 30 maybe. Sitting in a desk for 40 hours (or 60 or 80), sure. Doing work spread out over that time, sure. But none of my most productive time periods have ever coincided with the time periods I've put in the most hours. And I've yet to see someone get through a 37 or 40 hour work without spending a substantial proportion on them zoning out with non-work stuff or just being slow and lacking in concentration from time to time. Or both. The longer the work, the worse it gets. These days, I do sometimes still put in ridiculous weeks, but they are rare, and they are often explicitly with the trade-off that I know I'll take productivity hits and where I carefully schedule naps and caffeine etc. accordingly in order to be productive when it counts and "phone it in" when I can get away with merely being physically present (e.g. when someone drags me to meetings I know there's no real reason for me to be at). In my experience with long weeks like that, most of the time the reason for the long hours is usually 90% about politics and meeting room posturing and someone panicking than it is about actual productivity benefits. It may be worth putting up with occasionally to humour someone important enough to your income, but these days I refuse to let it be a major part of my life. There are the rare exception where there are genuine crises that really actually need everyone to be present for long periods, but if they are frequent, something is very wrong. In 20 years, apart from dealing with alerts keeping me awake for a few hours here and there, and where I compensate by according rest afterwards, I've maybe experienced 2-3 extended periods of excessive working hours for multiple days after each other where it was actually necessary.
- freditup 11y ago
  Agreed 100%. I feel like I could get as much done with a 25hr/wk workweek instead of 40hr/wk. I try to stay focused and work hard for those 40+ hrs each week, but things eventually trail off anyways.
benkuhn 11y ago
Thanks for pointing this out; I think "procrastination" was a lazy label for that time category on my part and doesn't actually reflect what I'm doing. As I mentioned in a parent (cousin-once-removed?) comment, the RescueTime statistics capture every moment I spend in front of my computer, not just when I'm in work mode. My actual work pattern is more like - Wake up - Bike 2 minutes to my office - Work for 9-10 hours - Bike home - Do the things that I labeled "procrastination" (mostly reading things on the Internet) This leaves me working a pretty normal schedule. I actually find I'm able to focus very well at work, since I'm really excited about my job and have a private office that screens out most distractions.

vidarh 11y ago

I agree. Personally I generally don't believe most people are capable of even meeting 37-40 hours a week of productive time. 30 maybe. Sitting in a desk for 40 hours (or 60 or 80), sure. Doing work spread out over that time, sure. But none of my most productive time periods have ever coincided with the time periods I've put in the most hours. And I've yet to see someone get through a 37 or 40 hour work without spending a substantial proportion on them zoning out with non-work stuff or just being slow and lacking in concentration from time to time. Or both. The longer the work, the worse it gets. These days, I do sometimes still put in ridiculous weeks, but they are rare, and they are often explicitly with the trade-off that I know I'll take productivity hits and where I carefully schedule naps and caffeine etc. accordingly in order to be productive when it counts and "phone it in" when I can get away with merely being physically present (e.g. when someone drags me to meetings I know there's no real reason for me to be at). In my experience with long weeks like that, most of the time the reason for the long hours is usually 90% about politics and meeting room posturing and someone panicking than it is about actual productivity benefits. It may be worth putting up with occasionally to humour someone important enough to your income, but these days I refuse to let it be a major part of my life. There are the rare exception where there are genuine crises that really actually need everyone to be present for long periods, but if they are frequent, something is very wrong. In 20 years, apart from dealing with alerts keeping me awake for a few hours here and there, and where I compensate by according rest afterwards, I've maybe experienced 2-3 extended periods of excessive working hours for multiple days after each other where it was actually necessary.

freditup 11y ago
Agreed 100%. I feel like I could get as much done with a 25hr/wk workweek instead of 40hr/wk. I try to stay focused and work hard for those 40+ hrs each week, but things eventually trail off anyways.

benkuhn 11y ago

Thanks for pointing this out; I think "procrastination" was a lazy label for that time category on my part and doesn't actually reflect what I'm doing. As I mentioned in a parent (cousin-once-removed?) comment, the RescueTime statistics capture every moment I spend in front of my computer, not just when I'm in work mode. My actual work pattern is more like - Wake up - Bike 2 minutes to my office - Work for 9-10 hours - Bike home - Do the things that I labeled "procrastination" (mostly reading things on the Internet) This leaves me working a pretty normal schedule. I actually find I'm able to focus very well at work, since I'm really excited about my job and have a private office that screens out most distractions.