Your Personal Work/Life Balance

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Locke

I cant speak to artists because they're weirdos that I dont understand.

Ditto for teachers but I think they fit the bill because they probably burn out at some point in their careers.

Same for 'passionate geologists,' does not compute.

I've known lots of very passionate geologists. More than most other professional disciplines, imo. I think they are very much like artists, in so far as they are weirdos I do not understand

[shermanator]

I work to live, and thankfully I can actually do that, as I work a job where emergencies do not happen and where I can truly shut off after the work day is done. At the beginning of my career I was driven to get high up the corporate ladder, but after my first promotion at 28 I realized I didn't have the drive to do that, nor was my personality cut out for it, and it was probably the greatest realization I've had so far that has benefited my career.

When I'm in the office I arrive around 7:30 and leave at 4. When I work from home I log in anywhere from 6:30 to 7 and log off at 4. The only times I look at my email outside of business hours are when something about a project is bugging me, and that's maybe 2-3 times a year. Any work related apps outside of email (Jabber, Teams) are permanently shut off and only used if my typical modes of communication are not available.

When I interviewed for my current job I emphasized that if I don't get downtime then they wouldn't get the best of me. Thankfully my company has been good with not expecting work outside of normal business hours and were great during such as my daughter coming into the world 3 weeks earlier than expected. I'm a stickler for work life balance, and thankfully I'm at the point in my career where I have enough of a nest egg that I could walk away on the spot and be okay should that be compromised. Hasn't been needed, and I'm sure I've lost out on some good paying opportunities as a result, but frankly I don't care.

[CliffFletcher]

I’ve never checked my work email outside of office hours. Not even one time.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Love my job and it pays really well which is a bonus.

I do my best to put in 8.5 hours per day and shut off evenings and weekends. Only challenge I have is I manage a sales team with people ranging from EST to PST and don't want to leave them hanging.

My team is great though and they appreciate that I have boundaries and encourage them to do so as well.

[Mazrim]

I've had issues controlling my work/life balance in the past. If I really got into a project, I'll let it eat up all my spare time. plus I was seeing my managers doing the same thing so I figured it was normal. I've made a conscious effort in the last 5 years to work on that, and now I'm working less overtime than ever. There are still some tough stretches (like right now!) but it's so much better.

In the end, I don't feel like my life was enriched by working myself to the point of burning out. YMMV.

[topfiverecords]

More like Work & CP / Life balance amirite?

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

More like Work & CP / Life balance amirite?

Admittedly...part of working less overtime was not doing CP Mafia anymore.

[photon]

When I did contract work there was a while I used to keep poor hours.. get started late and work late. I told myself it was because I was more productive in the evening, and that's probably partly true, but I think it was also just because I'm great at putting things off.

I find I'm much more steady now, and being an employee has helped that (though my boss doesn't really care if people work evenings or whatever, just as long as we don't put in too much time, he's a pig proponent of unplugging).

Contract work could sometimes wildly swing between very light work and months of lots of hours, I do like the ability to just put in my time and that's it; very rarely do I work extra hours or reply to messages after work. I have my work email on my phone but I don't have notifications turned on for it; I have to actually open Outlook at check.

[InglewoodFan]

Getting married later in life and gaining a couple of kids has helped me straighten out work life balance. Used to take assignments all over, be gone for months at a time. Tough on maintaining relationships and friendships. But early in my a career I bought into the whole "sacrifice to get ahead" mantra. Once I settled into family life, I've never missed a sports game, school event, really anything the kids had. And to no one's surprise, my career has been just fine.

My dad was in the same business and I followed in his footsteps to some extent. Hard driving to get ahead and work all the hours. He passed in his 50s, and we had some conversations before he died that when the end comes - no one cares how much OT you worked. Have definitely tried to take that heart.

I'm supposed to be at the client site in the US a week a month but I've told them I'm not coming down in August. We get so little good weather in Calgary that I am loath to burn up a couple of weekends travelling. Have spent the last couple weekends in the mountains and it has been very refreshing.

[malcolmk14]

I'm a teacher, so my contracted hours are 30 hours a week for ~40 weeks a year. That's calculated down to the minute, so literally every second I stay after the bell at 3:10 is my personal time. It's completely impossible to get everything done one needs to in those 30 hours. I'm usually at work 7:30 to 4 (7:30 to 3 on Fridays), an hour of work in the evening ~3 days a week, and 2-3 hours on Sundays.

I probably work 45-50 hours a week for those 40 weeks but I definitely don't do any work during my 11 or 12 weeks off.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way my boss can't see me - and after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.

Then I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

[calf]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way my boss can't see me - and after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.

Then I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

I think you're management material

[KTrain]

I think another big part of work/life balance is a balance of the personal life as well.

I have many friends who have a decent balance between work and family life but their family/personal life isn't balanced either. They dedicate all their off-work time to running their kids around to various activities. They have no "me time" to really unwind from work. Physically they've let themselves go. They don't have any personal interests.

If you enjoy all your free time being family time, go for it. Just make sure your mental and physical health aren't past the point of no return when you're older and they're not around as much.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by KTrain

I think another big part of work/life balance is a balance of the personal life as well.

I have many friends who have a decent balance between work and family life but their family/personal life isn't balanced either. They dedicate all their off-work time to running their kids around to various activities. They have no "me time" to really unwind from work. Physically they've let themselves go. They don't have any personal interests.

If you enjoy all your free time being family time, go for it. Just make sure your mental and physical health aren't past the point of no return when you're older and they're not around as much.

Yes, this is important. I also run the kids around a bit but Friday's are off limits. I plan no kid's activities on Fridays. Hubby and I are together, even if it's just to watch sports on tv. Kids do whatever, sometimes Grandma has them.

[calgarywinning]

I think it's a weird thing to divide work/life balance. The very term is extremely weird and labelling. Like I work therefore I don't have a life or I have a life therefore I don't work.

Even the idea of micromanaging this is like influencing the work/life. I think I work and have a life. But when I work too much, I don't have a life.

So what I did is I went out and got a wife. End of post.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

I’m in a career that is supposed to be notorious for not allowing work-life balance…. But my experience hasn’t been that bad honestly. I work hard, but I also like my job most days and most of the time I can’t believe I get paid what I do for a job that is usually pretty fun.

But maybe all of that is just Stockholm Syndrome…. It does seem like I work more late nights and more weekends than a lot of people I know. For me the pandemic was tough because I transitioned to working entirely from home and that was when work-life balance actually started to feel impossible, ironically enough. I’m much happier now that I can spend most days working at the office, check out around 6 and be home for dinner and a board game with the kids most nights.

[bigtmac19]

Originally Posted by Locke

I belong to the generation that I have dubbed the 'Die At My Desk' Generation.

One of those people who was brought up in the 'Work til you drop' environment.

My wife understands the nature of my work, but I do hope at some point it will abate somewhat. Otherwise I genuinely will.

ugh - every year it gets worse at our firm. This past season I worked more hours than I have in all the years I've been here, a couple of 70+ hour work weeks. I'm definitely too old for that crap.

[Old Yeller]

I used to work my ass off and really care about the company, got restructured, realized there's no point in working hard as it doesn't get you anything and now probably do 10 hours of real work a week.

[DiNaMo]

What I struggle with is that my work is very cyclical. We just ended our Q2 cycle and now I literally find myself just sitting at my desk doing nothing but counting down the hours which gets unbearable. I have so much of this free paid time I could be taking advantage of but don't know how best to use it.

Ironically I switched jobs for this very reason a few months ago and find myself in the same position.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

ugh - every year it gets worse at our firm. This past season I worked more hours than I have in all the years I've been here, a couple of 70+ hour work weeks. I'm definitely too old for that crap.

I'm getting there too, but unfortunately I am largely on my own.

I hired a couple people last year to help, but that presents challenges of its own.

It certainly didnt lower my overall hour-based workload but alleviated some of the more tedious tasks that put stress on me. I still gotta do all the hard stuff.

So...yeah. I will say that the Pandemic Tax Years were goddamned brutal. Those took years off my life.