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This is great, and covers aspects of work balance/integration/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that I haven't seen talked about as much. A big problem I see on an

This is great, and covers aspects of work balance/integration/whatever-you-want-to-call-it that I haven't seen talked about as much. A big problem I see on an ongoing basis is the confusion between time spent working and work produced. After ~10 years in this field, I feel like a pitcher who loses their fastball sometimes, and have learned when to sense that and pull myself from the game (stop working). I feel for people who don't see or sense their performance deteriorating in a way that just calling it a day and coming back with fresh eyes could improve. Should you just plow through sometimes? Definitely. But if I find myself needing to consider that for more than about a week a quarter, someone probably planned poorly or is taking advantage of the fact that I care about completing my work. There are other comments about work vs personal/skills development - the latter I do not consider work, personally, even if they're inter-related at times. I have actually noticed a big difference between my previous employer and current employer. I had enough slack at my previous employer to pack in quite a bit of high value personal/skills development after I finished my work and on weekends. Ironically, its this slack that gave me the time to learn skills that I was eventually hired for at my current employer - however, I have none of this mental bandwidth or time at my current employer. I can't figure out how much of that is pandemic-related, new child related (had a baby while at the new employer), or new employer culture/balance issues with how I work best. I guess it's just hard to track the true cause when the world goes into a blender while one's life changes significantly too.

lawrjone 5y ago
Author of the post here: what you say about pulling yourself away and recovering really resonates with me. What I'm working on is absolutely a factor in my interest, and how much energy I'm able to give- equally, how much the work pulls me in. But I've noticed I increasingly work in ebbs and flows, probably as I become more aware of my energy levels and how I want to commit my time. It doesn't help that my calendar has become terrible for engineering work over the last year, and I actively schedule weeks of "get properly involved in the building" alongside all the other responsibilities my role entails. Personally, I find the flexibility to distance yourself like this is really important. It helps me recover my energy and make sure I'm properly there when it matters. > new child related On this note, I think you might have found your smoking gun. This is hard enough by itself, but alongside all those others changes- I hope you're holding up!
- joehandzik 5y ago
  I consider that ebb and flow a totally acceptable part of human reality - as long as you find yourself not self-destructively procrastinating in the lower energy times, it seems sustainable to go at 75% (making up a number) sometimes and 125% later when the time or energy is available to you! I like feeling like it's my choice to go at 125% though - personal agency has always been key to keeping myself invested too. The behavior modeling you describe in your post most resonated with me at the present moment - as I become more of a senior employee, I feel pressure to perform from management, but also pressure to model sustainable behaviors. The Netflix culture book covered some of this with respect to time off. Top-down is important for culture setting. I am holding up well, thank you! But ~6 months at the new company, I wasn't holding up great and needed to seriously rethink my time management (hence a lot of this being fresh in my brain). I'm fortunate to have been able to fix this to the best of my ability before my son arrived - but at a company with a pride for startupiness (read: at times a total lack of planning), the balance I have needs pretty regular maintenance.

lawrjone 5y ago

Author of the post here: what you say about pulling yourself away and recovering really resonates with me. What I'm working on is absolutely a factor in my interest, and how much energy I'm able to give- equally, how much the work pulls me in. But I've noticed I increasingly work in ebbs and flows, probably as I become more aware of my energy levels and how I want to commit my time. It doesn't help that my calendar has become terrible for engineering work over the last year, and I actively schedule weeks of "get properly involved in the building" alongside all the other responsibilities my role entails. Personally, I find the flexibility to distance yourself like this is really important. It helps me recover my energy and make sure I'm properly there when it matters. > new child related On this note, I think you might have found your smoking gun. This is hard enough by itself, but alongside all those others changes- I hope you're holding up!

joehandzik 5y ago
I consider that ebb and flow a totally acceptable part of human reality - as long as you find yourself not self-destructively procrastinating in the lower energy times, it seems sustainable to go at 75% (making up a number) sometimes and 125% later when the time or energy is available to you! I like feeling like it's my choice to go at 125% though - personal agency has always been key to keeping myself invested too. The behavior modeling you describe in your post most resonated with me at the present moment - as I become more of a senior employee, I feel pressure to perform from management, but also pressure to model sustainable behaviors. The Netflix culture book covered some of this with respect to time off. Top-down is important for culture setting. I am holding up well, thank you! But ~6 months at the new company, I wasn't holding up great and needed to seriously rethink my time management (hence a lot of this being fresh in my brain). I'm fortunate to have been able to fix this to the best of my ability before my son arrived - but at a company with a pride for startupiness (read: at times a total lack of planning), the balance I have needs pretty regular maintenance.