tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post4285166022302668566..comments2024-02-05T05:15:04.759-08:00Comments on Wandering Scientist: Weekend Reading: The Work-Life Balance EditionCloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-68655721244144810392012-05-24T19:35:10.228-07:002012-05-24T19:35:10.228-07:00" I think everyone deserves a life outside wo..." I think everyone deserves a life outside work, and if parents are the ones who seem to be "getting" it, it is actually that we are taking it, because we have something that is worth risking the career repercussions for, namely our kids."<br /><br />Yes. This is EXACTLY it.<br /><br />And glad to know there is actually a term for what I've been doing more or less since DS was born: fixed schedule productivity. As you mention in your post, it's not to say that I don't have some nights or weeks where I'm doing extra time in the evenings to push through for a deadline. But I am certainly making sure to space those instances out significantly. And I also don't use that time just to catch up on e-mail. If I work in the evening it has to be because it's for a project that's important to me personally (which usually means it involves my creative role in my position) or that it's extremely important to our department/company (i.e. it would cause much, much more problems to wait to get it done in usual hours). There are not many times either issue has come up outside of work hours. And when it does, I know my time to work extra is very limited. I force the pace back down when I can feel it's going on too long.<br /><br />So far, this has worked very well for me. So I'm going to keep riding that wave as long as I can!the millinernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-5837559994466510552012-05-20T12:24:33.757-07:002012-05-20T12:24:33.757-07:00@n&m - exactly ;)@n&m - exactly ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15212690454989568626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-34544549431835050482012-05-20T04:49:14.856-07:002012-05-20T04:49:14.856-07:00Given the gender imbalance at Caltech, it would be...Given the gender imbalance at Caltech, it would be difficult not to find someone... although...<br />http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=8nicoleandmaggiehttp://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-35028307034584306972012-05-20T01:26:33.159-07:002012-05-20T01:26:33.159-07:00A very nice link collection...
Although, amidst a...A very nice link collection... <br />Although, amidst all the blogosphere activity on the subject, I must admit I have started suffering from severe work-life-balance-discussion fatigue. Sort of like FSP's cat.GMPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17872461021953583473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-58348927390080919142012-05-19T20:00:37.239-07:002012-05-19T20:00:37.239-07:00@Erin - I TOTALLY agree that there is a problem wi...@Erin - I TOTALLY agree that there is a problem with our culture in this regard. I've had several friends LOSE vacation days because they just never took them and they had too many to carry over. Sigh. I'm always scrounging for days by the end of the year, though nowadays it's because having a toddler in preschool exhausts my sick days pretty quickly...<br /><br />Cloud, I am 100% sure at my position (working for The Man) that if I had remained full time and continued to work the 55-70 hour weeks I was putting in before kids, I'd be a lot higher up than I am now. I don't know if it's all tech companies, but certainly mine rewards long hours and volume of work over efficiency and just doing a great job at your actual job. Ie More is always Better. Sigh.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15212690454989568626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-86098115439788591762012-05-19T19:57:46.080-07:002012-05-19T19:57:46.080-07:00Wait, U of C is where one can meet a rich husband?...Wait, U of C is where one can meet a rich husband? Damn. ;)<br /><br />I think my dad also made reference to getting myself a husband at some point while i was still at Caltech and I nearly strangled him (because I had never worked so hard and had so little sleep in my life - that was the last thing on my mind...) Then again, it turns out it happened anyway :DAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15212690454989568626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-73909411323028433462012-05-19T19:55:51.390-07:002012-05-19T19:55:51.390-07:00Yay, I hope this happens for you. Yes, I think wh...Yay, I hope this happens for you. Yes, I think when you start your own company you can build the culture you want, and that is very appealing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15212690454989568626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-47197259395895178752012-05-19T18:23:04.496-07:002012-05-19T18:23:04.496-07:00Why is leaving at a set time to take care of kids ...Why is leaving at a set time to take care of kids different than people leaving at a set time to catch the vanpool? Coworkers of those that live far away so that they can have a larger home or a stay at home spouse don't get any benefit from the vanpool. However, the coworkers of parents will collect social security thanks to the tax-payers that we raise. <br /><br />Childless people are freeloading on social security just as people who work shorter hours are freeloading on others who stay later (assuming similar productivity--which is a big assumption).<br /><br />Let's just stop beating this dead horse.badmomgoodmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11569728075698885020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-86481606981774871462012-05-19T16:20:44.574-07:002012-05-19T16:20:44.574-07:00This is a great topic -- I'm going to blog abo...This is a great topic -- I'm going to blog about this soon; your productivity links are very interesting.<br />You're right of course that Sheryl S is blogfood for many. And -- oh, i'm trying so hard -- but -- no -- ok, here it is. Sorry:<br /><br />Why Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg must resign, at http://bit.ly/zdfcPC<br /><br />Sex, War and Boardrooms: Sheryl Sandberg as a modern day Lysistrata, at http://bit.ly/H0UZiVcurtricehttp://curt-rice.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-65411303121436791692012-05-19T15:11:48.747-07:002012-05-19T15:11:48.747-07:00That would slow my meat consumption down considera...That would slow my meat consumption down considerably, too!Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-43942396987170887302012-05-19T15:11:22.918-07:002012-05-19T15:11:22.918-07:00Yeah, commute time can be huge. Although, I know s...Yeah, commute time can be huge. Although, I know some people who do useful things with long commutes (books on tape, language CDs, etc).<br /><br />I should say, I have no idea if Zuckerberg likes to surf. I was just making something up. But yes, we should all get to have lives outside work, kids or no.<br /><br />Personally, I always have, since early in grad school, when I had my "<a href="http://www.wandering-scientist.com/2011/06/work-limit.html" rel="nofollow">work limit</a>" realization. My schedule was different, but my hours weren't really higher. Obviously, I have no idea where I'd be now if I worked ridiculous hours, but I don't feel like my career has suffered at all. I wish people focused on productivity and not hours!Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-38891285409688768582012-05-19T15:07:11.487-07:002012-05-19T15:07:11.487-07:00You're welcome! I'd say times have really ...You're welcome! I'd say times have really changed, but... when I went off to the Univ. of Chicago, someone asked me if I was going there to meet a rich husband. So maybe they haven't changed as much as we'd like to think.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-33800184535443766392012-05-19T15:06:02.725-07:002012-05-19T15:06:02.725-07:00His blog has some good ideas. I think I found it v...His blog has some good ideas. I think I found it via someone on Twitter.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-50176017168363672622012-05-19T11:11:50.904-07:002012-05-19T11:11:50.904-07:00I believe Zuckerberg's latest thing to do in h...I believe Zuckerberg's latest thing to do in his free time is killing animals... as in, he's on a diet fad where you can only eat meat if you kill it yourself. (Apparently this has cut his meat consumption down considerably.)nicoleandmaggiehttp://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-7607530010999304322012-05-19T10:22:22.712-07:002012-05-19T10:22:22.712-07:00@Anandi - I hear what you're saying about upwa...@Anandi - I hear what you're saying about upwardly mobile at the C-level and I think you're generally right (although I do think that those of us who have jobs where we control our own schedules and nobody cares how many hours we work - that is where there is no correspondence between promotion and working X number of hours - can do exactly that. I have in my career, but I'm an academic which is quite a different kettle of fish than corporate America). At the same time, I'm interested in thinking through not only the realities (which you mention) but what I want to advocate for, which is "work-life balance" for all people. As Cloud says, I think Zuckerberg's love of surfing is really important too. People should have full lives, and our focus should be on that alongside of work life. But in the States we seem to have completely suborned our selves to work, probably because we have no job protections or social services, so we are completely at the mercy of the system, whose only goal is to get us working more and more hours. I think it *should* be possible for people to knock off at 5:30 and still be successful/ambitious - maybe not every night of one's whole career, but sometimes and not only once you're the boss. Think about those stories that came out recently about how few Americans take their (already scanty) vacation days. So sad! We as a culture do not advocate for our lives, our not-work selves.<br /><br />I have to say, too, that I think one significant factor in allowing me to be at home slightly more than the average American (besides being my own boss) is that I've always been able to live close to where I work so I've never had some kind of grueling 45 min - 1hr (or more) commute on top of a work day.Erinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-9693420741496792532012-05-19T07:08:42.038-07:002012-05-19T07:08:42.038-07:00Cali Williams Yost's tribute to her mom brough...Cali Williams Yost's tribute to her mom brought tears to my eyes, especially the part about her mother's biggest regret: "Her intellect was legendary. In high school, she received a scholarship to an Ivy League school but turned it down to follow her boyfriend, who had gone to another college." Oh, wow. I'll be sharing that with my own children. Thanks, @Cloud.hushhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05532820460835325762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-3996268135396265722012-05-19T03:22:58.824-07:002012-05-19T03:22:58.824-07:00Very awesome links. I think DH already reads Cal ...Very awesome links. I think DH already reads Cal Newport's blog because the name sure looks familiar, but I hadn't seen it before.<br /><br />Now that it's the summer and I'm not inundated with teaching and people dropping by all the time it's so much easier to get into one of those flexible productive schedules and knock off after 8 hours. (Though I seem to punt about one day a week... I should probably work that into the schedule somehow too... 6 days a week with two of them half days is probably more realistic than 5 days a week full. Perhaps I should be better at leechblocking the interesting internet sites other than just the blog and cnn during the day.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-76847376554786441402012-05-18T23:20:25.490-07:002012-05-18T23:20:25.490-07:00She's said she's been doing it since Googl...She's said she's been doing it since Google, I think.<br /><br />But yes, enough with her schedule already!<br /><br />One of my ambitions is to some day prove that I can be not just COO, but CEO, with a reasonable schedule. We'll see if I get to do that! I do think it is doable, particularly if you can control the company culture (for instance, if you are a founder).Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-82032488151713782772012-05-18T21:58:01.781-07:002012-05-18T21:58:01.781-07:00Maybe I'm too cynical but I:
1) am tired of he...Maybe I'm too cynical but I:<br />1) am tired of hearing about Sheryl Sandberg's schedule, already.<br />2) don't think it's applicable to folks who are not at the C-level and still have upward ambition<br /><br />I attended a talk several years ago at my company's Womens' Conference with a panel discussion of execs talking about balance. One of them was a VP, and talked about how she left at 5 to pick up her kids, get dinner, etc. Great, but in my mind, she had already "arrived" and had "earned" the right to saunter out of there at whatever time she wanted because she had a whole freakin' DIVISION of people to do the work she was responsible for.<br /><br />I'm not saying it's impossible to define your schedule and still be fulfilled in your career (clearly many of us are doing that) but I do think it's unrealistic for those of us individual contributors and first line managers to think we too can do what Sheryl is doing and become COO someday.<br /><br />My guess is that leaving at 5pm comes after YEARS of her putting in crazy, crazy hours and sacrificing a lot.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15212690454989568626noreply@blogger.com