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Ask HN: Amount of free time to prevent burnout?
People often emphasize work-life balance as a way to prevent burnout, but the proportion of work to life necessary for happiness is very idiosyncratic. What is your requisite balance or amount of free time necessary to prevent burnout and achieve maximum contentment?
(For instance, school and the occasional coding work take up about 60 to 70 hours per week, which I consider to be pure, obligatory working time totally distinguished from leisure. However, I usually get between 15 and 25 "pure leisure" hours per week, during which time I have no professional or scholastic obligations. This is time during which I read, take photographs, and of course perform basic tasks like hygiene and eating. This seems to work well for me, and I can complete all of my work while still allocation time for personal pleasure, and so 15 hours per week would be my minimum requisite leisure time.)
- orangethirty 13y agoA couple of days every three months. Plus 15 minutes a day to water my plants. (:
- rdouble 13y agoIn my experience, exercise is more important than free time to prevent burnout.
- terrykohla 13y agoFor life balance I wouldn't try balancing work/school vs free time but in stead fun tasks vs tedious tasks. Perhaps you find your job to be fun and you don't mind working crazy hours, but other people hate their job and working too much makes them depressed. So you gotta find a balance between stuff you enjoy doing (it could include work, school, hobby or sport) and stuff you hate doing but still have to do (it could be cardiovascular exercise, your job, your taxes, cleaning your house, etc). Stuff you enjoy doing gives you energy and revives you. Stuff you hate doing drains you. Therefore you gotta balance these two in such a way to optimize your productivity and your health.
- GFischer 13y agoIf your job is unsatisfying, you can experience burnout even working 50 hours a week. That said, it's a good idea to have free time even if you love your job - my father's a workaholic and he had heart problems, now he makes time to go fishing and is much better off.
- 1123581321 13y agoJust as deliberate practice and focus help you work much better at your job and other pursuits, deliberate, focused leisure will get you much more for your time spent. If you are a heavy TV watcher, you might not be fully rested with 50 free hours per week. If you exercise and do restorative, creative things that are complementary to your day job, you might be able to recharge in very little time. A lot also depends on the quality of your sleep. If you sleep well, you'll have more time for recreative leisure and also perform better/reduce energy dissipation at your job.