My trajectory has been pretty similar to Raemon’s. In my early-to-mid 20s, I worked around 4 hours per day, because I had very little interest in the stuff our company was building, and I measured (via our bug tracker) that my coworkers were getting less done than I was, so I felt I wouldn’t get called out as a lazy ass.
In my late 20s I founded an online marketplace, which required working around 12 hours per day, 6 days per week from 27-32. My “secret” to putting in these kind of hours was that I was poor, and if the startup failed, it was going to wreck my self-esteem. Also, working in web development was satisfying because of the rapid iteration. And I truly believed that eBay was a deeply flawed site that could be improved upon with decent tech.
In my 30s, I went down to ~10 hours per day, 5 days/week. Working on the startup had become like any other job (high BS ratio). The job had transitioned from being one where I had high intrinsic interest (programming) to none (managing).
In my 40s, I have been working enough that people get annoyed (seriously) when I tell them how much I work. Let’s just say it is more than I have ever worked before. The biggest reasons for the past-5-year spike:
Reduced company’s size from ~50 people to ~10, freeing me from the management responsibilities that demotivate me. I have resumed spending > 50% time programming.
Working on projects where I have deep intrinsic interest (developer tools & thinking/planning software), because they solve problems I personally have.
Companies still aren’t consistently profitable, so if I slacked off I could lose what I’ve spent 15 years building (or at least be required to raise $, which implies more management/BS). An underrated motivator! Requires a potpourri of anti-anxiety meds not to crack tho
Both the products I work on have “self-measurement” as a core tenet of their value prop. Being able to see a graph that approximates my progress has been key to feeling like my efforts are substantive, even when the top-line numbers take longer to demonstrate progress.
Choosing to pass on child-rearing has factored heavily into this. Most people I talk to (esp women, but men too) seem to get their greatest meaning in life from their kids, so I don’t think my path would be optimal for most people. For me, I feel a great sense of purpose in trying to build tools that help others become better versions of themselves, so that suffices as the well from which I can draw purpose & meaning.
My trajectory has been pretty similar to Raemon’s. In my early-to-mid 20s, I worked around 4 hours per day, because I had very little interest in the stuff our company was building, and I measured (via our bug tracker) that my coworkers were getting less done than I was, so I felt I wouldn’t get called out as a lazy ass.
In my late 20s I founded an online marketplace, which required working around 12 hours per day, 6 days per week from 27-32. My “secret” to putting in these kind of hours was that I was poor, and if the startup failed, it was going to wreck my self-esteem. Also, working in web development was satisfying because of the rapid iteration. And I truly believed that eBay was a deeply flawed site that could be improved upon with decent tech.
In my 30s, I went down to ~10 hours per day, 5 days/week. Working on the startup had become like any other job (high BS ratio). The job had transitioned from being one where I had high intrinsic interest (programming) to none (managing).
In my 40s, I have been working enough that people get annoyed (seriously) when I tell them how much I work. Let’s just say it is more than I have ever worked before. The biggest reasons for the past-5-year spike:
Reduced company’s size from ~50 people to ~10, freeing me from the management responsibilities that demotivate me. I have resumed spending > 50% time programming.
Working on projects where I have deep intrinsic interest (developer tools & thinking/planning software), because they solve problems I personally have.
Companies still aren’t consistently profitable, so if I slacked off I could lose what I’ve spent 15 years building (or at least be required to raise $, which implies more management/BS). An underrated motivator! Requires a potpourri of anti-anxiety meds not to crack tho
Both the products I work on have “self-measurement” as a core tenet of their value prop. Being able to see a graph that approximates my progress has been key to feeling like my efforts are substantive, even when the top-line numbers take longer to demonstrate progress.
Choosing to pass on child-rearing has factored heavily into this. Most people I talk to (esp women, but men too) seem to get their greatest meaning in life from their kids, so I don’t think my path would be optimal for most people. For me, I feel a great sense of purpose in trying to build tools that help others become better versions of themselves, so that suffices as the well from which I can draw purpose & meaning.