Comments on The Rational Entrepreneur: Introducing the 70-hour Work Week

For me, I have a hard time distinguishing between ...

2010-06-19T13:21:54.408-07:00

For me, I have a hard time distinguishing between what is work and play for me. I limit myself to ~40 hour weeks a week at my internship. But when I come home, I just transition to learning, thinking, planning, new endeavors.

I'm very much interested in the workaholic lifestyle. And following Samatha's thinking, I would never encourage or fall victim to a sort of immediate reactive type working style. I always spend time thinking about the larger picture, prioritizing, and skill acquisition where it makes sense.

I have worked 70 hour weeks. I have even worked b...

2009-11-17T19:35:41.012-08:00

I have worked 70 hour weeks. I have even worked bursts of 80+ hour weeks. If you are working 70 hour weeks then you have nearly zero time to increase skills, rejuvenate, or contemplate the problem space much differently. You become a "commander in an air raid" - very monomaniacal. There are times when this is good but only for the task at hand. It is not good for your long term growth and happiness. It is not good for maximizing creativity. You get a bit of a boost from the deep immersion but you lose in flexibility I think.

One other difficulty is that you are working nearly twice as much as others in your organization. They are not going to appreciate that comparative standard nor trying to make sense of that much output from you. Rewriting the code base on the weekend is not going to make your co-workers happy when they come in on Monday.

As for #3, mildly reduced health, another concern ...

2009-11-16T07:40:08.833-08:00

As for #3, mildly reduced health, another concern is direct bodily strain. As I recall the main elements of that are carpal tunnel, soreness, and any other effects of maintaining a position for a long time. Not too hard to mitigate, good posture and moving around regularly probably suffice.