Too cool for leisure?

[Dualhammers]

It is 8:42PM and I am still working. I have to be up at 5:00AM for my job. Tweets and posts about great movies and books and video games for babies dance around my head like little hedonistic demons. I must resist them.

Who else is too busy for free time? Tell me your stories of how you have become a workaholic extraordinaire. 

[osmosisch]

If this is structural for you, you are almost guaranteed to be underperforming relative to what you would be able to do with proper rest/planning.

[dibs]

It is 10.07. I spent most of the morning reading a horrific child trafficking story on Reuters. Now someone has told me they need some work from me so I'm finishing this post and then i'll get to it. Also, I have to pee though. Also I'm thirsty.

In only have three days left before I leave here for my new job, but I can't say if be any different if it were a regular day.

[Nachimir]

With the project I'm currently on, eleven hours work plus commutes is an easy day. On show changeover days or major event days, I pretty much wake up at 06:30, cycle in for 20 minutes, work until around 22:00, go home, then sleep and repeat.

Main factors in workaholism: On top of weekly exhibition production and daily event production, agencies partnering on it have been burying me in extra things to chase up, and I've had to develop somewhat extreme defences to stop them from continually piling more on. I need to charge more and bring in staff to do this again I think.

[clyde]

Isn't the difference between work and leisure whether or not someone else gets profit from your labor? I'm kinda like a leisureaholic.

This morning, I spoke to a guy who spends a large quantity of time in attics spraying insulation that is steaming-hot. I bet he can afford medical insurance.

After speaking to him, I went back to my non-essential desk-work where I wrote about how I'm going to die one day.

People pay for sprayed insulation and I doubt it's enjoyable to spray. Writing about the inevitability of death is enjoyable, but doesn't pay.

[Marquis]

My friends like to remind me that it's not REAL work, but I'm a fine artist for a living and that seems to encompass everything. I consume a good bit of music, podcasts, and audiobooks, but have absolutely no time for any sort of media that requires visual attention.

 

I check in every now and then, and luckily everything on tv and in movie theaters seems to be total shit, so I'm not really too torn up about it

[Zeusthecat]

As far as work goes, I have a pretty decent schedule. Monday - Thursday 830ish AM to 630ish PM and Fridays 830ish AM to Noonish (I can come in earlier or later and leave earlier or later and nobody really minds as long as the work gets done). Work also stays at work and nobody pushes us too hard since we kind of set our own deadlines with clients and push them when necessary. We're lucky to be a small software development group doing the kind of work we do.

 

However, I am still at a point where I have very little free time because I have to take over with the kids when I get home so my wife can get a break. Having a crying baby and a 4 year old that insists on testing every boundary there is can be quite taxing after awhile. But still, it's all good. Even though it's not free time, it is still time well spent and is rewarding in its own way.

[Apelsin]

Been told we might be heading into crunch soon, so I guess I'll be joining you guys in the overtime

[osmosisch]

I work 4 days/week from 9 to 5

[SecretAsianMan]

Our computer network was down most of the day today so I spent the majority of the morning browsing around on my phone.

 

I work at a nuclear power plant, which means that my work cycle is a bit different than most.  Every few weeks I'm on call as part of the emergency response team, so I can't be too far away and have to be fit for duty at all times in the event I'm needed.  Also, as part of the nuclear fuel cycle, every 18 months or so we have to shut down the reactor to refuel it and do maintenance work.  These outages last over a month on average, and we have 2 units so there's at least one every year.  Since we're not producing power during the outage, we want to get through it as fast as possible.  Which means lots of overtime.  I usually work nights, 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week.  I don't consider myself a workaholic because I never think about work at home, but every so often I'm forced to become one.

[melmer]

[Twig]

I just don't work. You've all been duped!

[Gormongous]

I don't consider myself a workaholic because I never think about work at home, but every so often I'm forced to become one.

 

See, I have a lot of free time because I'm a graduate student (although not this year, fuck being a TA), but I feel like a workaholic because there is no clean break between work and play in grad school. I do all my dissertating on the same computer that plays video games, so I can never get away from the feeling that I should always be working, even when I've just done six hours of good work already. It's a very damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

[Problem Machine]

See, I have a lot of free time because I'm a graduate student (although not this year, fuck being a TA), but I feel like a workaholic because there is no clean break between work and play in grad school. I do all my dissertating on the same computer that plays video games, so I can never get away from the feeling that I should always be working, even when I've just done six hours of good work already. It's a very damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

That. Well, not specifically that, but I'm basically self employed, doing commissioned artwork to pay rent, updating a blog to build reputation and practice writing and vent head-juice, and developing a personal game project all at the same time. I know that technically I work an average of 3 or 4 hours a day, but it feels like I'm always under pressure to get something done. To be fair, I've kind of intentionally structured my life this way, having discovered the hard way that I find it far too easy to just drift along if I don't set myself a network of goals and standards.

[Dualhammers]

So irony of ironies, the morning after I made this post I received an email saying the project I was working on had been "shelved indefinitely" so when I got home from work I basically played War of the Roses and read David Foster Wallace books until I passed out.

That being said, I am actively concerned that if I don't find a way to make my work time more efficient I will run int the same problem again where I am working all the time and am too exhausted to produce god work in any area.

[Dualhammers]

That. Well, not specifically that, but I'm basically self employed, doing commissioned artwork to pay rent, updating a blog to build reputation and practice writing and vent head-juice, and developing a personal game project all at the same time. I know that technically I work an average of 3 or 4 hours a day, but it feels like I'm always under pressure to get something done. To be fair, I've kind of intentionally structured my life this way, having discovered the hard way that I find it far too easy to just drift along if I don't set myself a network of goals and standards.

I feel the same way regarding goals and standards, and even though I still have to work a job and do my own game development on the side it is nice to know I am not the only one who feels the constant pressure.

Do you have a link to your portfolio of work? I am wondering if I know you from somewhere.

[Problem Machine]

Well you followed me briefly on twitter I think, but I'm pretty sure that was after reading a blog post I linked here. As far as I can recall I don't know you from anywhere else, though I guess if you were at TIGJam or something we might have met?

 

Regarding a portfolio, I don't have anything so formal set up. I've been doing weekly and daily devblogs for my project as it comes along which contain scraps of animation and whatnot, but I haven't made a formal portfolio. I really should, come to think of it. Maybe I can do that this weekend.

[sclpls]

See, I have a lot of free time because I'm a graduate student (although not this year, fuck being a TA), but I feel like a workaholic because there is no clean break between work and play in grad school. I do all my dissertating on the same computer that plays video games, so I can never get away from the feeling that I should always be working, even when I've just done six hours of good work already. It's a very damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation.

 

I experienced all that guilt/anxiety when I used to work as a freelance writer. Sure, being able to see a movie in the middle of the day is nice, but people that have only experienced fixed work schedules often don't realize how good they have it. I don't miss my freelancing days at all.