Do you guys give yourselves days off/regular breaks from work?

I use to put in 10+ hour days, and I even worked a 19 hour day doing a drupal conversion for a client. Now days, I am more about quality of life and better time management. I'm sure that many of us are guilty of wasting hours in front of the computer doing BS instead of real work, yet we account those wasted hours into our workday. I start work around 9-10am and turn off my computer for the night at 5pm. I no longer do ANY work on the weekend. I create a list of everything I need to complete for the week and I take my time doing it.... No more rush rush stress stress for me!
 
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a journal of geeks :) damn it what the heck have this to do with BH :)? wasn't any mod there to move it on lounge ?
 
When I first got started I worked from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, usually 7am till 2am, sometimes 4am, 7 days a week. I had three meals a day delivered to me and I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at my desk while working. I only stoped to go to the bathroom. There were days I was on the phone with business partners from 10pm till 5am in the morning and then right back up at 7am to code some more.

Now, I have achieved success and come into my office when I want and leave when I feel like it. I spend most of my days overseeing people who ovesee the operations. I'm mostly bored to death sitting at my desk looking out the window most of the day TBH. When I get too bored I will either pick up a little side project for the fun of it, or take a nap on the couch, or get on BHW, or go play with the company dog, or just leave early and go do some boating, racing, or golfing.

Sometimes I even break out the old video games at work and throw down a random lan party with a few guys, much to the chagrin of my managers lol. We're all big l4d2 and css fans here.

We have a quartly hack-a-thons too, quite a lot of fun. A group of us won't even go home for 36-48 and even once 72 hours....much to the chagrin of our wives. LOL.
 
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Well I usually do this stuff almost all day but when I'm going somewhere sometimes I'll be gone all day so yeah I take days off. I only started a few weeks ago.
 
I don't have a day job so IM is my full time occupation... I generally work from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM with breaks for lunch and dinner (we don't do breakfast in my home generally).

I take time out during the day to lift weights, walk our dogs (3 Japanese Chins) and work on my lawn.

I also just walk out of my office here and there just to give my eyes a break from looking at a laptop screen.

When I am frustrated I head to the golf course and do some chipping and putting to just go to a different world and clear my head.

Everyone should be taking a break here and there as that is just good for your mindset.
 
During the school year, I work between classes and a few hours after class, including doing homework. Then I go to the gym and relax providing I don't have studying.

Now, during the summer, I work M-F from the morning until around 5. I relax with my girlfriend and friends at night. On weekends, I respond to client emails but I try to take time for myself.
 
Ye see my goal like others have said is grind now with the goal of being able to chill back a bit more later.

I'm sure there will still be work but as my monetary means are modest then I don't think I have to slavedrive myself indefinitely...just to make the 1st sprout.

I really find IM fun and I'm making progress but because I am not actually making money yet then it can be stressful without having seem that reward.

My best progress so far is position 11 for a 1k keyword but that has been dancing back to 15 today. Actually ALL my keywords have been dancing back the past few days. I have been trying to hold off to see if they dance up to a better position but I'm getting a bit skeptical now. If they haven;t gone up by tom morning time to take some more action methinks.

I don't understand how people say they do such and such and just wait for months for their results to come through cos so far I've found I have to keep plowing in the work constantly to make gains. Not sure what they are doing diff..

When I start to make bank I feel like I can really sit back and enjoy learning the IM game in a bit more of a leisurely fashion. At the moment it is still interesting but it's a grind/hustle whereas I'm thinking when the stress aspect of 'must make money' put at bay a lil I can chill and enjoy the process more in my own time.
 
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Generally I take a break when I get stuck at something and start getting frustrated. At that point I'll often switch on my Xbox and play some Halo Reach (Firefight, Gruntpocalypse normally, only 15 mins) as it helps me get rid of some of the frustration.

When I then get back to work often I magically get past whatever had me stumped.

The only downside is when I accidentally get caught up in a good few games and it's suddenly been 3 hours...
 
xhpdx said:
I start working about 30 minutes after I wake up and have my breakfast. During the day I take breaks for meals and try to work up to 6 PM, and then just go to the gym to clear my mind and take care of all the stress. Also here is a technique I'm using from to time to boost my productivity - it's called the pomodoro technique. I've tried working all day without any breaks, but that way I'm even less productive.

Breaks are essential, after all we're not robots :)
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Interesting to see the Pomodoro technique mentioned. Have you ever read Getting Things Done by David Allen? It's a time management book in a similar kind of vein. I enjoyed it and strongly recommend it.
 
with my first few months with IM i am really working hard, like 12-16 hours.

but now, i got addicted to a game and got a little lazy. lol

i've now deleted the game, so time to focus. got to get my momentum back ;)
 
Biggles said:
Interesting to see the Pomodoro technique mentioned. Have you ever read Getting Things Done by David Allen? It's a time management book in a similar kind of vein. I enjoyed it and strongly recommend it.
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Haven't read or heard of that book, but will add it to my reading list.
 
xhpdx said:
I start working about 30 minutes after I wake up and have my breakfast. During the day I take breaks for meals and try to work up to 6 PM, and then just go to the gym to clear my mind and take care of all the stress. Also here is a technique I'm using from to time to boost my productivity - it's called the pomodoro technique. I've tried working all day without any breaks, but that way I'm even less productive.

Breaks are essential, after all we're not robots :)
Click to expand...

From wiki where you linked:

decide on the task to be done
set the pomodoro (timer) to 25 minutes
work on the task until the timer rings; record with an x
take a short break (5 minutes)
every four "pomodori" take a longer break (15?20 minutes)

you really take a break every 25min? that seems a little too much.. but it seems after 25min you might just be getting in the flow of things and then 'ding' time for a 5min break.
 
I work for 8-10 hours a day, 4 days a week on internet related things. I also do 2 nights a week running my drive in.

I live in a bit of a tropical paradise so take many daylight hours off to do fun things but always work later at night to make up for it.

I DON'T work Sundays.
 
I'm considering trying to do some work while receiving a full body massage.... Now that sounds like the least stressful way....
 
Not to sound crazy, but I don't find IM as a work at all.
I find it as a hobby/interest, therefore I don't take offs :D

Unfortunately, that cost quite a destructive amount on my social life.
But hey, I've found my method... I'm trying to monetize and profit it to the max and later spend the money and maximize my social life :D

Sacrifice something for something.
 
ezkim0x said:
you really take a break every 25min? that seems a little too much.. but it seems after 25min you might just be getting in the flow of things and then 'ding' time for a 5min break.
Click to expand...

Actually at first I hated to stop for a break especially when I am coding complex stuff, but then when break is over I resumed work more focused than ever.
 
Well? for me it's hard both to star and to stop and have a break when I'm all in work/ Though I really think breaks are necessary, because I certanly work better after them with a clear mind. In any caseI try to take at least one day a week when I dont turn the computer on (not always I success int , but I really try...)
 
morning 8 till night 11 then gym to 12 call up gf and repeat... not much rest other then food afterall i just started IM
 
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