Hacker News Reader

Comment by mark_l_watson | Hacker News Reader

For decades, I almost always worked four days a week, 32 hours/week total. Since I was working for mostly large companies, I didn’t make any sort of special deal to do this, I simply took a 20% pay cut. Well worth it. Looking back over the last 35 years, I don’t regret working less at all, with the extra time off spent with friends and family, and giving me time to write several books.

View on HN

I could never negotiate that, so I quit the industry after 10-ish years and went into "leaner life-style, honest day's work" type of deal. Best thing I did with my life.

Oh, and Wim Hof breathing. Just the breathing, for now.

I'm curious what kind of job you got after quitting the tech industry. Maybe I'll try it some day. :)

I go up a rope or down a rope to trim/take down a tree, sometimes to do some construction work. Industrial alpinism.

EDIT: for anyone curious, here is the official guide on Wim Hof breathing, copy-pasted from https://www.wimhofmethod.com/breathing-exercises

---

Never practice the breathing exercises in a place where it could be dangerous to faint.

Step 1: Get comfortable

Before you start practicing the breathing exercises, it is important to get as comfortable as possible. Sit in a comfortable posture in which you can expand your lungs freely. To make sure that you can expand your lung for the fullest, it is recommended to practice the exercises on an empty stomach.

Step 2: 30 power breaths

For this first breathing exercise, imagine that you are blowing up a balloon. While using your midriff fully, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Use short and powerful bursts. Close your eyes and repeat 30 times. You can become light-headed during this exercise or experience a tingling sensation. This is normal.

Step 3: Retention after exhalation

After your 30 power breaths, fill your lungs to maximum capacity, but don’t force it. Exhale and hold for as long as you can. Hold your breath without forcing it, until you experience the gasp reflex.

Step 4: Recovery breath

Inhale to maximum capacity and feel your chest expanding. When your lungs are full, hold your breath for 10 seconds. Release the breath, and begin a new round. Repeat 3 to 4 times.

Step 5: Enjoy the feeling

Take your time to enjoy the feeling that the breathing exercises invoke. This feeling is similar to the effects of meditation and will get more powerful when you practice more often.

How did you manage to negotiate that? Especially for earlier career jobs?

It's harder earlier in career, but the guy I interviewed (mentioned in separate comment) successfully did it as his first job (https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer...). He was:

1. Existing employee, so he was valuable to them, and had proven he could work shorter hours since he'd been there part-time initially when he was in university.

2. Willing to quit. In fact, what actually happened is he said "I quit", they said "but we don't want you to quit" and he said "how about 4 day workweek".

This is not a very reproducible method, but I've interviewed another person (for my book - https://codewithoutrules.com/3dayweekend/) who was somewhat early in his career. Again, he did it at his current job, with willingness to leave if necessary.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com