A contrarian take on working long hours
I think that mostly I agree with the author, that there is a religious following of the long hours&#x2F;never sleep work model. What has worked for me, as I am over worked and spend far too much time on meetings at all off hours, is flexible hours instead of rigid ones.<p>My day blends a lot more, as I have periods of work and periods of &quot;life&quot;. Instead of a rigid 8 hour block, work is just one of those chores I do, and I align blocks of time much like I would for cleaning the bathroom, getting groceries, zoning out on a show or a run, etc.<p>This means a lot of breaks and no-work times, and a lot of responses and participation at times when colleaguss in other regions don&#x27;t expect it.  It kinda works for me :)<p>The impression is that I never sleep, but in reality, it&#x27;s just I am distributing the work hours far differently and I can get s lot more done this way. 1.5 hours in some morning over coffee for email, scattered calls throughout the day, in the evening set aside some time after dinner and exercise for some project work (actual coding or just thinking about it). Sometimes I just merge it with other activities that don&#x27;t need my full attention (is it an evening walk or a planning session if I think about a project while walking?)<p>I am very lucky I have this flexibility, and I know it is not a universal thing that everyone can get, but not having such a rigid structure let me really break down my day to work the way I need. I still meet all deadlines, meet all meetings, and I define when I&#x27;m not answering emails or messages. It rubs some people the wrong way as they never know when to plan meetings that involve me since they rely on outlook scheduler, and unexpected meetings tend to not happen as often  (which is good for me :) ), but ultimately I like having more control over when I allocate work time