Slow the fuck down

To be efficient you need to find the right balance between work and life. Too little work, you are lazy, too much work, the quality of your work drops to the point you could work very little (as time) and have the same result. Also this balance needs to be adjusted daily. You can't work, work, work and then recover by going in a holiday.

It's similar to gas/air mixture in engines. You need to have it right all the time. You can't inject only gas in the engine and add the air a week later.

What this means for me is that I take time for breakfast and lunch. I leave at 5 pm all the time. I stop working when I'm too tired (quality will be crap and I will need to fix it later anyway). Going out in nature and whatever makes you feel that you are relaxing. Daily.

There is a saying in auto racing: slow is smooth; smooth is fast. I've worked with people that are all breathless go-go drama (screeching tires and spin outs to press the metaphor) it's annoying and inefficient. In the long haul they don't get nearly as much done as someone who is disciplined and methodical.

The part about time being limited (you can't create more) and knowing where to spend yours also applies to career choices.

Like the title, slow down and think about it. A move up a ladder from an engineer to manager may not be something you enjoy. Sure it might pay more, maybe there is an ego-boost of moving up, societal status stuff maybe if you are into that. What if you grow to dislike it? What if you go from writing software to writing PowerPoint slides and arguing over spreadsheets of budgets every month? Is it worth a little more money to dislike 2/3 of your days?

This reminds me a lot about the introduction to a book called 15 commitments of conscious leadership. If you enjoyed this article, check out that book! It's very good.

Has anyone used officehours.io before with some sort of success?

Seems like an interesting idea, but not sure how well it would work.