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I've been telecommuting for about a year and a half now. If there's one piece of advice I have, it's to keep a clear distinction between work and home. For abo

I've been telecommuting for about a year and a half now. If there's one piece of advice I have, it's to keep a clear distinction between work and home. For about the first 8 months, I would be logged in to work for about 14 hours/day (not necessarily working, but logged in and checking/responding to emails and IMs) and even found myself quickly logging in before going to bed - just to make sure nothing new popped up (which it rarely, if ever, did). Eventually, I had to force myself to keep "normal" hours - no more sleeping in until 10 and then working till 1. "Clock out" at 6 and leave it at that - everything will still be waiting for you tomorrow, I promise. =)

zazi 16y ago
Thanks for the advice. Were the first 8 months of 14 hour days in a start up environment? And, if you don't mind sharing, what changed to prompt you to transition to 'normal' hours?
- Aqua_Geek 16y ago
  Yes and no. About a year before I started this job, I founded a digital publishing company with a friend, so I was working this 40 hr/week job AND on my startup whenever I "got done" for the day. It got to the point where I finally took a step back and realized that I was killing myself. My crappy work schedule mixed with late, late nights on my startup was a recipe for disaster. I also started having some RSI issues, which I'm still dealing with today (not being physically able to work another minute is a pretty strong motivator to stop for the day... <g>). Just let go - I know it's hard to do if you're working for a startup, particularly if it's your startup. But you need to draw the line somewhere - work a set number of hours a day, or work until a set time and then clock out. Work hard/smart during those hours, and you'll get the satisfaction of knowing you did what you could that day and it's enough. Co-workers/founders are a terrific source of motivation - especially if they're constantly committing quality code. But don't let that drive turn into something bad, or the guilt will get to you and destroy whatever motivation you had for the project. Programming because you feel you have to is no fun and is not sustainable - you will burn out.

zazi 16y ago

Thanks for the advice. Were the first 8 months of 14 hour days in a start up environment? And, if you don't mind sharing, what changed to prompt you to transition to 'normal' hours?

Aqua_Geek 16y ago
Yes and no. About a year before I started this job, I founded a digital publishing company with a friend, so I was working this 40 hr/week job AND on my startup whenever I "got done" for the day. It got to the point where I finally took a step back and realized that I was killing myself. My crappy work schedule mixed with late, late nights on my startup was a recipe for disaster. I also started having some RSI issues, which I'm still dealing with today (not being physically able to work another minute is a pretty strong motivator to stop for the day... <g>). Just let go - I know it's hard to do if you're working for a startup, particularly if it's your startup. But you need to draw the line somewhere - work a set number of hours a day, or work until a set time and then clock out. Work hard/smart during those hours, and you'll get the satisfaction of knowing you did what you could that day and it's enough. Co-workers/founders are a terrific source of motivation - especially if they're constantly committing quality code. But don't let that drive turn into something bad, or the guilt will get to you and destroy whatever motivation you had for the project. Programming because you feel you have to is no fun and is not sustainable - you will burn out.