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It's a good point, but, to be fair to parent commenter, they may have meant something different.

I think they may be referring to the phenomenon of walking away and having the solution "come to you" while doing something else. It took me a while to appreciate this, but simply walking away is often the fastest way for me to solve a hard problem. There I am, lying in bed, or cooking, or whatever, and BOOM the solution is presented to me - just like the divine inspiration described by so many. Of course, now we (hopefully) know that it's probably less a matter of intervention and more a matter of brain chemistry, but true regardless.

Yes I hope my tone was fair, I didn't want to be too cynical. There is definitely a spectrum between "overworked, burning out" and "love my job and sometimes I think about it at home too".

One way to not care about the arbitrary thresholds set by 9-5 is to happily not think about work during those hours, just as much as you may think of it while falling asleep.

How do you not think about work outside of work though? My current job is a shitshow, and I would like my thought towards it to only happen 9–5 while I get paid, but my brain is always thinking about whatever I’m stuck writing code about even during my weekend or outside work hours. I don’t work outside work hours but I can’t stop the thinking either. You make it sound like there is an on off switch, but I don’t seem to find mine. Do you have any tips?

Definitely not an on off switch, it took me ages to get better at turning work off. I think the only advice I can give is to make sure you have non-computer/software hobbies, and practice being more mindful in general. Being mindful lets you get better at noticing when you've got yourself in a work/stress hole again. Thinking about work is involuntary most of the time, you just end up there, but if you can train yourself to notice it you can hopefully get better at stopping it.

This technique helps me break a thought pattern. I ask myself (regarding my situation where I physically am right now and then expanding outwards to my life)

“Is this pleasant?” “Is this unpleasant?” “Is this neutral”

For example, I walk into a room thinking about work, sit down still thinking about work, and finally notice I’m thinking about work, so I ask myself the questions. Is the chair alright? How do I feel? Hungry? Cold or tired? No, this chair and room are comfortable. I’m safe, my family are nearby, I just ate a nice sandwich etc... that’s pretty good.

It forces me back into the present. Added bonus, the moment you label anything as neutral it transforms into pleasant, because anything not unpleasant is pleasant!

You could try it continuously or set alarms or just ask yourself often. Whatever suits you.

"The software industry will burn your wick at both ends and then toss you asside when you're no longer young and stupid enough to work more than a normal work week."

THIS.