4 ms·

I wonder if the author would give the same advice to famous workaholics like Paul Erdos? Here's my issue: I'm an entrepreneur. Doing a startup is my dream. I'm

I wonder if the author would give the same advice to famous workaholics like Paul Erdos? Here's my issue: I'm an entrepreneur. Doing a startup is my dream. I'm having fun and creating amazing memories. I work as much as I possibly can. Stopping me from working on my startup is like keeping a child locked in a room. I don't force my team to do the same (and they don't). I don't brag about it, I am not burning out, not messing with my sleep, not jeopardising my health. Moreso, when I force myself to stop it takes me a long time to start again. That's how my brain works. Why is 40 the golden standard? Do I have to apologise for the amount of work I do?

iambateman 13y ago
Heck no, do your thing. Startups are a long game though and pace matters.
atmosx 13y ago
IMHO there are no rules of this kind that apply for every situation. Just do whatever you like, since you like working on your thing 24/7 go for it. We should be very careful when we're talking about employees though.
patio11 13y ago
I'm also an entrepreneur. It's the best job I've ever had. Back in the day, I was a salaryman. A Japanese megacorp owned me body and soul. If you had asked me, during much of those three years, whether I was overworked, I would have told you no. Seventy hours was surely not more than many salarymen worked, and anyhow, I had just had a nice relaxing 50 hour week only... what month is it again? I would have described myself as an attentive boyfriend, and didn't understand at all why a girlfriend might disagree with that assessment. My best friends had an album titled Patrick Falling Asleep At Parties -- they were such kidders, those two. I had blackouts. I stayed in a hotel frequently, some days because it was impossible to catch the last train but some days because while I technically could have made the train I was staggering so much I was uncertain that I'd make it home safely. Somebody once did a graph of HN posts by hour it was utterly impossible to identify core sleep hours for me by looking at it, for three years. When my salaryman friends and I got together for dinners we'd do the requisite amount of kvetching about our jobs and then talk about people who had real problems. Did you hear about how bad it gets at the Tokyo office? Cripes, we dodged a bullet, didn't we. In hindsight, I can only describe it as three years of temporary insanity. I don't want to attack any part of your self-conception, and wish only for your happiness. In that spirit: consider the possibility that alexandros is executing on unreliable hardware and attempt to get verifiable external measurements about what that hardware is telling you.
- alexandros 13y ago
  Hi Patrick!! Big fan!! cough I am indeed very much aware I am running on unreliable hardware. My evaluation of my productivity comes from reviewing things done in micro and macro scale, as well as feedback from people around me. Seeing my HN history from PhD years to Startup years is night and day. I've even installed RescueTime to get a better idea of how I spend my time. I try to get as much external data as possible, always happy to apply any other (sensible) metric you (or others) can suggest. But keep in mind these same considerations hold for everyone claiming they're super-productive in 40 hours a week.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
HelloMcFly 13y ago
I respect you and your work ethic, even if it isn't for me. I do have one thing I'd like to add a general comment on, even if it doesn't pertain to you: > I don't force my team to do the same (and they don't). For anyone who does work at all hours, before and after the traditional workday, I would just kindly remind you to be cognizant of the messages you send to your team if you're firing off emails and sending other work products every other night at 10pm and every morning at 5am. While you don't mind doing it for yourself, and externally you tell everyone you don't expect the same, it does begin to put informal social pressure on everyone else. This is particularly true if one or more employees start responding/emulating those odd-hour communications, out of drive or a sense of unspoken obligation, which pushes everyone else into a "I do this but you don't have to [but really you should wink wink]" situation. Even if people don't match behavior, it can lead to stress. In short: be aware of the pressure your behavior can send irrespective of your words, in light of your position of authority.

iambateman 13y ago

Heck no, do your thing. Startups are a long game though and pace matters.

atmosx 13y ago

IMHO there are no rules of this kind that apply for every situation. Just do whatever you like, since you like working on your thing 24/7 go for it. We should be very careful when we're talking about employees though.

patio11 13y ago

I'm also an entrepreneur. It's the best job I've ever had. Back in the day, I was a salaryman. A Japanese megacorp owned me body and soul. If you had asked me, during much of those three years, whether I was overworked, I would have told you no. Seventy hours was surely not more than many salarymen worked, and anyhow, I had just had a nice relaxing 50 hour week only... what month is it again? I would have described myself as an attentive boyfriend, and didn't understand at all why a girlfriend might disagree with that assessment. My best friends had an album titled Patrick Falling Asleep At Parties -- they were such kidders, those two. I had blackouts. I stayed in a hotel frequently, some days because it was impossible to catch the last train but some days because while I technically could have made the train I was staggering so much I was uncertain that I'd make it home safely. Somebody once did a graph of HN posts by hour it was utterly impossible to identify core sleep hours for me by looking at it, for three years. When my salaryman friends and I got together for dinners we'd do the requisite amount of kvetching about our jobs and then talk about people who had real problems. Did you hear about how bad it gets at the Tokyo office? Cripes, we dodged a bullet, didn't we. In hindsight, I can only describe it as three years of temporary insanity. I don't want to attack any part of your self-conception, and wish only for your happiness. In that spirit: consider the possibility that alexandros is executing on unreliable hardware and attempt to get verifiable external measurements about what that hardware is telling you.

alexandros 13y ago
Hi Patrick!! Big fan!! cough I am indeed very much aware I am running on unreliable hardware. My evaluation of my productivity comes from reviewing things done in micro and macro scale, as well as feedback from people around me. Seeing my HN history from PhD years to Startup years is night and day. I've even installed RescueTime to get a better idea of how I spend my time. I try to get as much external data as possible, always happy to apply any other (sensible) metric you (or others) can suggest. But keep in mind these same considerations hold for everyone claiming they're super-productive in 40 hours a week.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

HelloMcFly 13y ago

I respect you and your work ethic, even if it isn't for me. I do have one thing I'd like to add a general comment on, even if it doesn't pertain to you: > I don't force my team to do the same (and they don't). For anyone who does work at all hours, before and after the traditional workday, I would just kindly remind you to be cognizant of the messages you send to your team if you're firing off emails and sending other work products every other night at 10pm and every morning at 5am. While you don't mind doing it for yourself, and externally you tell everyone you don't expect the same, it does begin to put informal social pressure on everyone else. This is particularly true if one or more employees start responding/emulating those odd-hour communications, out of drive or a sense of unspoken obligation, which pushes everyone else into a "I do this but you don't have to [but really you should wink wink]" situation. Even if people don't match behavior, it can lead to stress. In short: be aware of the pressure your behavior can send irrespective of your words, in light of your position of authority.