|
I sleep in, wake up, and work till about 7pm depending on time zones I am in (right now most of my calls are 3pm to 7pm since I am in Europe for a few months). I've scaled the late nights back a bit since I got married, but occasionally I'll work through midnight, and occasionally a day on the weekend. I love my work so it takes a lot of work to make sure the balance is there. Before I got married I worked a much more flexible schedule, I worked when I felt like it, and when I didn't I didn't. I usually ended up working around 50 to 60 hours a week. I never minded the stress prior to this last year, generally if I get burned out I take a vacation and I'm good after 10 days on the beach. But, this last year has been very stressful and it has taken a full year to find a solution to that. Stress management is key to maintaining a good lifestyle, I exercise a ton, and working to add meditation to my daily habits (you need both). I love the flexible time, if I need to take a day off I take it off, and I put it back in somewhere else. As the company has grown in size it is a little more rigid in structure, I've got meetings on Monday/Tuesday that I usually can't skip. But usually that leaves Wed/Thur/Fri free for project work and no meetings. I love to travel and this lifestyle. Since the entire company is remote it doesn't matter where I am. I traveled for all of 2012 and 2013, I spent a year in Australia, 6 months in europe/UK, and 6 months in South America. I am typing this from Nice France where my wife and I will be for a month, and then Croatia for a few months. I use AirBNB to find places to stay and it has worked out brilliantly so far. I go to 3 to 4 conferences a year, sometimes more, I really enjoy the industry I am in and have a fair number of friends through that network + work meetups. Given the nomadic nature of my life for the last 5 years, and the higher hours I don't have a ton of close close friends. Just a few from college and it is hard to maintain those friendships when we are all different places in the world. I am looking forward to being a bit more settled as I've gotten older :). The hardest part? It is hard to shut down, it is a constant battle to make sure my life has balance, both for hobbies, and for my wife/family. I would imagine that once kids are added to the mix that will really adjust some of my priorities and time :) |