At times, I've had to put in tons of work at a stretch (not exactly overtime, as I didn't get particularly paid for it), so for what it's worth here's what I've found.
First things first, I can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. I needed to have an end goal/date for when I could slow down for a bit, or else my productivity would just take a total nosedive (which would cause the work to take longer, so would prolong the misery). And for me, I could only last a few weeks, maybe 4 at the most. We called the projects that didn't have such obvious completion dates Death Marches, as that's approximately what it felt like to work on them. And once I was done, I had to take at least a few days of working less than normal. I didn't need a full-on vacation, but the sensation of coming in to work, not having a giant pile of stuff to do, and getting to leave early helped a lot. It never quite came up that I had to do this repeatedly, but I figure it'd have taken at least a couple of weeks of taking it relatively easy before I could consider putting much extra time in again. In other words, I'm saying you should be careful of burning out; it's no fun. Be sure to put your foot down at work before that happens.
As for managing the home front, I was lucky (well, if you can call it that) to not have to worry about neglecting pets. That would have made life harder. As it stood, I could basically ignore most of the entropy at home, since I was almost never there. I optimized the crap out of my morning routine (down to eating breakfast faster), made sure to bike into work (faster than the bus/metro where I was - this was the only criterion) even when I was a bit tired, and did the dishes only when absolutely necessary. I made an effort to get sleep in, as otherwise I'd have been useless on the job (hence prolonging things again), but I still slept less than ideal amounts.
What gave way? Cooking was one of the first things. I ate out more, or I ate horrible canned things at the office. Socializing took a bit of a hit, but it wasn't too bad as I was good friends with people at the office, or I'd step out to hang out with people at a bar/restaurant for a few hours in the evening and then head back to the office. This only worked because both my friends and my office were downtown, of course, and I wasn't on the clock. Don't even bother planning to get any sizeable work done around the house; it takes a surprising amount of time, and it'll only stress you out when it inevitably doesn't get done. Dates just didn't happen, though this is arguably unrelated to the amount I was working :)
I vaguely recall a few 100+ hour weeks back in university. I think all that needs to be said about them is that they were a bit of a blur :) Even if I could remember, the lessons wouldn't be so relevant as I had housemates at the time.
Anyway, if you just get one thing out of this giant comment, it's to make sure to take some downtime. Really. Enough that you actually feel rested from time to time. Sloth gets a bum rap.
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Date: 2008-10-07 08:13 am (UTC)First things first, I can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. I needed to have an end goal/date for when I could slow down for a bit, or else my productivity would just take a total nosedive (which would cause the work to take longer, so would prolong the misery). And for me, I could only last a few weeks, maybe 4 at the most. We called the projects that didn't have such obvious completion dates Death Marches, as that's approximately what it felt like to work on them. And once I was done, I had to take at least a few days of working less than normal. I didn't need a full-on vacation, but the sensation of coming in to work, not having a giant pile of stuff to do, and getting to leave early helped a lot. It never quite came up that I had to do this repeatedly, but I figure it'd have taken at least a couple of weeks of taking it relatively easy before I could consider putting much extra time in again. In other words, I'm saying you should be careful of burning out; it's no fun. Be sure to put your foot down at work before that happens.
As for managing the home front, I was lucky (well, if you can call it that) to not have to worry about neglecting pets. That would have made life harder. As it stood, I could basically ignore most of the entropy at home, since I was almost never there. I optimized the crap out of my morning routine (down to eating breakfast faster), made sure to bike into work (faster than the bus/metro where I was - this was the only criterion) even when I was a bit tired, and did the dishes only when absolutely necessary. I made an effort to get sleep in, as otherwise I'd have been useless on the job (hence prolonging things again), but I still slept less than ideal amounts.
What gave way? Cooking was one of the first things. I ate out more, or I ate horrible canned things at the office. Socializing took a bit of a hit, but it wasn't too bad as I was good friends with people at the office, or I'd step out to hang out with people at a bar/restaurant for a few hours in the evening and then head back to the office. This only worked because both my friends and my office were downtown, of course, and I wasn't on the clock. Don't even bother planning to get any sizeable work done around the house; it takes a surprising amount of time, and it'll only stress you out when it inevitably doesn't get done. Dates just didn't happen, though this is arguably unrelated to the amount I was working :)
I vaguely recall a few 100+ hour weeks back in university. I think all that needs to be said about them is that they were a bit of a blur :) Even if I could remember, the lessons wouldn't be so relevant as I had housemates at the time.
Anyway, if you just get one thing out of this giant comment, it's to make sure to take some downtime. Really. Enough that you actually feel rested from time to time. Sloth gets a bum rap.