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Comment by joshribakoff | Hacker News Reader

I often start at 7am and go until 10pm. My girlfriend makes me food and brings my caffeine. I have no time for "non work activities"though. I'll be in bed watching Netflix but really working on my laptop. Even when I have to goto the grocery store my mind is always on work. Being a remote employee, the line is blurred. If I'm out and about but all I can do is daydream about a new algorithm, I consider that working.

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I mean this without any intention of belittling or suggestion that you should do otherwise, but why? Not that you need justify anything to me, of course.

It's so fundamentally opposite to my experience, and I'm curious about what's driving you to work like this.

In my personaly anecdotal experience, it eventulally leads to burnout, health and relationship problems. After doing two startups and working way too much for way too little, I now strongly believe in a healthy work-life balance. Hell, I’m looking at reducing my worked hours (for less pay) because I now value my non-work free time much much more than I did before.

But.. to each thir own, I suppose.

Yes you have to find balance. It might be 100 hours one week & 10 hours the next. I work just as much as everyone else over time, it just comes in bursts of creativity. Some light bulb goes off & then I can't sleep until I have my idea working.

Ah, bursts of creativity/activity I can understand and do myself. I suppose my point is more that its not sustainable to work such long hours, not that it can’t be done successfully every so often without long term problems :)

I also find that sometimes “my time” looks an awful lot like work in the sense that I might do very similar things (hey, I enjoy programming!), the difference is that one is done on my terms, when and how I want and I do it to relax, have fun or otherwise do something I want, while the other is something I do because I have to.

Because its fun. I can't sleep because I'm excited to code. It interests me more than most other activities.

Thanks for sharing. It's cool that you've found something you're so passionate about.

How did you get "100 hours a week"-excited to code? The only thing I am waiting for is this shit to click, but for the last five years, it hasn't happened. And I dreadfully want it to.

Is it a life you enjoy living? I'm just curious :)

I mean technically if you are available to answer phone calls or emails, I think we should consider you are "working". I mean it is ridiculous to pay you by the hour at that point but if I didn't have to pay you by the hour, that's the criteria I'd use.

I think I read somewhere that somewhere in France or Germany some city or some department/province said you can't require your employees to promptly respond to emails outside of their work hours (I imagine they don't have "at-will" employment).

Do you bill those hours also?

This is why billing by the hour is broken. Too bad we can't have anything better that people will not immediately abuse.

I'm on salary. But I've gotten numerous raises & bonuses. I "front" the work, then ask for raises later. If I don't get the raise, I move onto the next company. Eventually I found a job willing pay more for increased output & stuck with it.

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