I’ll answer your middle question first. When we were writing our first version in 2014, I logged probably 60+ most weeks. When living in Africa, I probably also logged around that many hours, since I had little else to do :). But now I start work around 8am and end around 5pm daily and usually take an hour for lunch, and don’t work on weekends, so probably close to 40 hours. I am vaguely thinking about reducing my hours even more.
Transitioning to your first question:
The stage of a company really really matters, and it also matters what you consider to be “good” work-life balance. My cofounder is fond of saying, “there’s no such thing as too busy, just poor prioritization.” And I think that is ultimately how all work-life balance questions should be answered. First, decide on your priorities, then act accordingly :)
Classic startup advice always says that startups need to “move fast”, speed is how you beat much more established competitors. But “move fast” is what it looks like from the outside when you have good prioritization—when you’re writing only the code that matters to get the marginal increment of growth rate, so you can learn what you need to learn in order to keep that growth on an exponential trajectory. It doesn’t have to mean work yourself to the bone: on the contrary, I’ve found that when I spend many hours writing code, I have exhausted my capability to do the prioritization work which could save me many hours writing code :). So, I would say that great work-life balance in a startup starts and ends with great prioritization, not just at work but across your whole life. The 4 Hour Workweek is a well-loved treatise on the subject, as is Derek Sivers’ Anything You Want. I put in 60+ hours in the early days because Wave was my life priority (and was able to get away with it because Drew was able to take most of the prioritization work out of my head and leave me with just code).
How do I take care of myself: I see friends and family, I take vacations, I have a coach/therapist person, I cook dinner and light candles and drink beer, I have tons of bright lighting in my office :)
I really like these questions!
I’ll answer your middle question first. When we were writing our first version in 2014, I logged probably 60+ most weeks. When living in Africa, I probably also logged around that many hours, since I had little else to do :). But now I start work around 8am and end around 5pm daily and usually take an hour for lunch, and don’t work on weekends, so probably close to 40 hours. I am vaguely thinking about reducing my hours even more.
Transitioning to your first question:
The stage of a company really really matters, and it also matters what you consider to be “good” work-life balance. My cofounder is fond of saying, “there’s no such thing as too busy, just poor prioritization.” And I think that is ultimately how all work-life balance questions should be answered. First, decide on your priorities, then act accordingly :)
Classic startup advice always says that startups need to “move fast”, speed is how you beat much more established competitors. But “move fast” is what it looks like from the outside when you have good prioritization—when you’re writing only the code that matters to get the marginal increment of growth rate, so you can learn what you need to learn in order to keep that growth on an exponential trajectory. It doesn’t have to mean work yourself to the bone: on the contrary, I’ve found that when I spend many hours writing code, I have exhausted my capability to do the prioritization work which could save me many hours writing code :). So, I would say that great work-life balance in a startup starts and ends with great prioritization, not just at work but across your whole life. The 4 Hour Workweek is a well-loved treatise on the subject, as is Derek Sivers’ Anything You Want. I put in 60+ hours in the early days because Wave was my life priority (and was able to get away with it because Drew was able to take most of the prioritization work out of my head and leave me with just code).
How do I take care of myself: I see friends and family, I take vacations, I have a coach/therapist person, I cook dinner and light candles and drink beer, I have tons of bright lighting in my office :)