6 ms·

What I really need is a weekly study day: Spend a whole day just studying and reading something (which may be completely unrelated to my work). Some of my most

by 2sk21 8y ago

What I really need is a weekly study day: Spend a whole day just studying and reading something (which may be completely unrelated to my work). Some of my most productive ideas have come from such study.

geertj 8y ago
Whole heartedly agreed. My main contributions have been when bringing knowledge from disperate domains together.
windexh8er 8y ago
This. While I will often block off two or three hour chunks early in the week for deep dive I often relent on releasing that time to yet another meeting. Having switched employers a few times in the last 5 years I find myself taking more and more time off between. It's amazing how much you can clean off your plate of learning, catching up and self improvement in that amount of time. Ultimately I feel as though it's personal debt accumulated from not having time at work to sharpen the saw continuously. Most weeks 3 days of work and 1 of work related projects / study would net the organization I work for more meaningful relationship and production. It would also allow flexibility for weeks that needed additional stick time. When I was at my first corporate job out of college my employer did a 9/80 schedule. So 9 hour days for 80 hours which meant every other Friday off. The extra hour for 8 days and a normal 8 hour day the day before being off was awesome. But it can be even better, I believe. Does it just take a large, public display of it to be considered? Why is there still such a strong focus on 8x5?
- cheez 8y ago
  Because most employers can get 9/10x5
  - windexh8er 8y ago
    Understood. But does it net anything positive beyond said "extra" hours? It's like the new quarterly earnings game on Wall Street: let's all report non-GAAP and make it look like we're not losing money.
maxxxxx 8y ago
What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before.
- dmix 8y ago
  I would quit so fast if my workplace was like that. That is not an environment where (good) software can be created. You need technical people as the cofounder/upper management level to push back hard on that stuff. Via quiet separated office areas for developers, policies on 'distractions' during certain times OR when headphones are on OR Slack status is "Do Not Disturb", etc.
  - andromedavision 8y ago
    This cannot be stressed enough IMO.
- chimeracoder 8y ago
  > What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before. Sounds like bullpen office layouts are the problem. We really need to go back to private offices.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    And let's have less people whose only job is to report to each other about work instead of doing work. Unfortunately managing is paid better than doing so I don't see that changing.
- chaostheory 8y ago
  I think this is why a lot of companies in the SF Bay Area have regular work from home days, 2-3 days a week, allowing you to either just focus work or study on those days; leaving meetings for the remaining days
Taylor_OD 8y ago
I require what I call a, "clean up" day once every few weeks. I wish I had one every week. It's a day when I can sit on my computer or around my apartment and do all those little things that pile up. Re-potting the plants? Never urgent enough to be top of mind but will become an issue later. Those 15 opened and unread tabs? Let me at em. Painting that spot on the wall? A tad too inconvenient for a normal Tuesday but perfect for the clean up day.
- samstave 8y ago
  This is the type of task that can be positively gamified. Give yourself a reward for accomplishing these, if you have a roomate/SO, try to compete in a light way, on doing certain things, such as race to see who can do similarly sized tasks first/best/best-outcome etc
- nickjj 8y ago
  I think life becomes less stressful when you just bang those things out on demand. How long is it really going to take to glance through those 15 unread tabs? Chances are you'll do a legit sweep of them in 45 seconds and then maybe 1 or 2 things will be worth reading. Before you know it, you just knocked it off your list in 5-10 minutes. The same can be said for painting that spot on the wall, 10 real minutes end to end and you're done. Now they are out of your mind instead of piling up between those clean up days where all you think about is "I wish I had time to do all of these things!". I know personally I'm the most happy when my queue is nearly empty.
  - Taylor_OD 8y ago
    I agree with you. However life gets in the way sometimes and those little quick things get delayed until later. Enough of those build up and that's when I run into those. The tabs are all things I've sent to my phone/home computer via pushbullet because they were articles I was interested in actually digging into and maybe doing more research on the topic later so they do takes some actual time or at least mental energy. The wall painting and cleaning stuff is all quick time wise but there are other potential costs that accompany it. Painting brings the possibility of spilling the paint or getting it on my clothes or something. I also need to clean up the paint brush thoroughly which takes some time. Same with re-potting plants. What if I spill the soil and it goes everywhere? Big clean up. Yes unlikely but if I've only got 20 minutes on a Tuesday before I head out to do something else I don't want to risk it. I am the most happy or at least the most focused when I finish all of these things thus the clean up day. It almost feels like there is a part of my brain that is dedicated to these tasks even if they are just sitting on my computer or around the place to be accomplished. It's great to finish them.
fabricexpert 8y ago
I think you need more time. If a company offered me a years full pay leave after 5 years to study full time, with fees covered I would valued that a LOT more than all of the other workplace perks available.
coreyrab 8y ago
I've worked at few places that instituted a weekly 'meetingless day' and I can't recommend it enough. It is amazing how much work you can get done when do know you have 8 hours of consecutive focus and can look forward to it weekly.
Breza 8y ago
I spend three hours a day commuting via subway. I've started reading textbooks about my field on the train and it's amazing how much it's improved my skills. I also read fiction and other things, which have their own benefits. If I ever get a job closer to home, I want to keep blocking off part of my day for reading/studying.

by 2sk21 8y ago

geertj 8y ago

Whole heartedly agreed. My main contributions have been when bringing knowledge from disperate domains together.

windexh8er 8y ago

This. While I will often block off two or three hour chunks early in the week for deep dive I often relent on releasing that time to yet another meeting. Having switched employers a few times in the last 5 years I find myself taking more and more time off between. It's amazing how much you can clean off your plate of learning, catching up and self improvement in that amount of time. Ultimately I feel as though it's personal debt accumulated from not having time at work to sharpen the saw continuously. Most weeks 3 days of work and 1 of work related projects / study would net the organization I work for more meaningful relationship and production. It would also allow flexibility for weeks that needed additional stick time. When I was at my first corporate job out of college my employer did a 9/80 schedule. So 9 hour days for 80 hours which meant every other Friday off. The extra hour for 8 days and a normal 8 hour day the day before being off was awesome. But it can be even better, I believe. Does it just take a large, public display of it to be considered? Why is there still such a strong focus on 8x5?

cheez 8y ago
Because most employers can get 9/10x5
- windexh8er 8y ago
  Understood. But does it net anything positive beyond said "extra" hours? It's like the new quarterly earnings game on Wall Street: let's all report non-GAAP and make it look like we're not losing money.

maxxxxx 8y ago

What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before.

dmix 8y ago
I would quit so fast if my workplace was like that. That is not an environment where (good) software can be created. You need technical people as the cofounder/upper management level to push back hard on that stuff. Via quiet separated office areas for developers, policies on 'distractions' during certain times OR when headphones are on OR Slack status is "Do Not Disturb", etc.
- andromedavision 8y ago
  This cannot be stressed enough IMO.
chimeracoder 8y ago
> What I need is a weekly work day :). My workplace is so distracting that I barely ever get to do focused work. The background noise drives me crazy and then always somebody wants to have another meeting about something that has been discussed dozens of times before. Sounds like bullpen office layouts are the problem. We really need to go back to private offices.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  And let's have less people whose only job is to report to each other about work instead of doing work. Unfortunately managing is paid better than doing so I don't see that changing.
chaostheory 8y ago
I think this is why a lot of companies in the SF Bay Area have regular work from home days, 2-3 days a week, allowing you to either just focus work or study on those days; leaving meetings for the remaining days

Taylor_OD 8y ago

I require what I call a, "clean up" day once every few weeks. I wish I had one every week. It's a day when I can sit on my computer or around my apartment and do all those little things that pile up. Re-potting the plants? Never urgent enough to be top of mind but will become an issue later. Those 15 opened and unread tabs? Let me at em. Painting that spot on the wall? A tad too inconvenient for a normal Tuesday but perfect for the clean up day.

samstave 8y ago
This is the type of task that can be positively gamified. Give yourself a reward for accomplishing these, if you have a roomate/SO, try to compete in a light way, on doing certain things, such as race to see who can do similarly sized tasks first/best/best-outcome etc
nickjj 8y ago
I think life becomes less stressful when you just bang those things out on demand. How long is it really going to take to glance through those 15 unread tabs? Chances are you'll do a legit sweep of them in 45 seconds and then maybe 1 or 2 things will be worth reading. Before you know it, you just knocked it off your list in 5-10 minutes. The same can be said for painting that spot on the wall, 10 real minutes end to end and you're done. Now they are out of your mind instead of piling up between those clean up days where all you think about is "I wish I had time to do all of these things!". I know personally I'm the most happy when my queue is nearly empty.
- Taylor_OD 8y ago
  I agree with you. However life gets in the way sometimes and those little quick things get delayed until later. Enough of those build up and that's when I run into those. The tabs are all things I've sent to my phone/home computer via pushbullet because they were articles I was interested in actually digging into and maybe doing more research on the topic later so they do takes some actual time or at least mental energy. The wall painting and cleaning stuff is all quick time wise but there are other potential costs that accompany it. Painting brings the possibility of spilling the paint or getting it on my clothes or something. I also need to clean up the paint brush thoroughly which takes some time. Same with re-potting plants. What if I spill the soil and it goes everywhere? Big clean up. Yes unlikely but if I've only got 20 minutes on a Tuesday before I head out to do something else I don't want to risk it. I am the most happy or at least the most focused when I finish all of these things thus the clean up day. It almost feels like there is a part of my brain that is dedicated to these tasks even if they are just sitting on my computer or around the place to be accomplished. It's great to finish them.

fabricexpert 8y ago

I think you need more time. If a company offered me a years full pay leave after 5 years to study full time, with fees covered I would valued that a LOT more than all of the other workplace perks available.

coreyrab 8y ago

I've worked at few places that instituted a weekly 'meetingless day' and I can't recommend it enough. It is amazing how much work you can get done when do know you have 8 hours of consecutive focus and can look forward to it weekly.

Breza 8y ago

I spend three hours a day commuting via subway. I've started reading textbooks about my field on the train and it's amazing how much it's improved my skills. I also read fiction and other things, which have their own benefits. If I ever get a job closer to home, I want to keep blocking off part of my day for reading/studying.