Ask HN: How long do you work in a day? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How long do you work in a day?

Our fellow hacker here is genuinely concerned about his work hours and sustainability. He mentioned he works 12hours/day.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3285622

Please share, how long do you work in a day? Do you think hours put in, directly co-relates to success?

I For example, never work fixed hours, somedays I work 4 hours, Some days I don't even work. I'll admit I'm not hugely successful (yet). but, I'm satisfied and also using my free time to build a few web apps I want.

When I hear about startups, I mostly also hear about brutal work hours put in, I'm wondering is it absolutely necessary or is it a life-style choice.

Loooking forward for your comments.

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Software Developer, Technical Lead here.

First, it helps to define "work". I am in the office for 8 hours in a day, but I'm not working that entire time (like when I'm writing a comment on HN).

In terms of actual work performed, it will always vary day-to-day, but I tend to be actively engaged in thinking about work-related items about 6 hours a day.

Everybody has different body and mind chemistry, so working 12 hours for some is more productive than working 6 hours for others. I've overworked myself before, doing 14-16 hours a day for a year, and burned out. In hindsight I also realized that, although I was vigorously working for 14 hours, I wasn't being very productive and the recovery time takes a lot longer than if I had mentally paced myself. It was actually better for me to work less and be more productive (a "work smarter, not harder" sort of thing). But as I prefaced before, YMMV.

i'm currently working a fulltime job which is your typical 9-5 with some offhours answering emails etc.

aside from that i have a web startup on the side that i work on maybe 1 hour a day answering emails however, when i first started the website since i did all the coding, i would work 9-5 at my day job and spend another 5-6 hours at home on the site so for a period of a year i used to work 14-15 hour days. thank god the product is out there now and it's become a maintenance thing now instead of pure coding.

i don't know how people can manage that kind of a lifestyle for long periods of time with family etc. when i was doing it, i was single and now that i'm married i can't see myself working 14 hour days without putting a dent in my relationship and life in general.

I average 11 hours per day during the week about about 3 hours per day on the weekend. I am productive for roughly 90% of the time. Of that 90%, I am experiencing flow only about 15% of the time. I work in a very high-distraction office, and because I am a co-founder, my fingers are perpetually in many pies - this situation is not very conducive to high levels of focus.

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