It’s been so busy lately when I have a few hours off, all I want to do is play spades on-line. The mind a blank, hands smelling like sweat-soaked socks, just leave me alone and let me vegetate. On one smelly hand, I should appreciate the work, but on the other, man I could use an extended break. My vacation this year was to the in-law cottage on the lake in Maine, and that was to replace the foundation posts. But I think like a squirrel: gotta stock up while the getting is good, cause the post-Christmas slowdown is just around the corner. But the older you get, the more and more difficult it becomes to continue plugging away.
On the even gloomier side, I have a good friend from church who owns a painting/powerwash business, and he’s grinding it out 12-15 hours a day, 7 days a week. I reserve Sundays as a day of rest, time to recharge the batteries. Seems as though the charging time is taking longer, either that or the batteries are getting weaker.
How about you, what do you do to prevent burnout?
Replies
meditate and then some beers
Be well
andy
My life is my practice!
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Nick,
I used to work 7 days a week. Now in the mid 40's I limit myself to 12 hour days and 1/2 days Saturdays. I too take Sunday off. Son plays college football so that is a great diversion and forces time off. Other than that I read. DanT
At the moment I have to work as much as I can, as I am in the process of extending a business and have been fortunate enough to get quite a bit of work. Everything is taking longer than expected (I've always been an optimist) and the only way at the moment is to be in the workshop 7 days a week. I have a number of breaks throughout the day, and look forward to each one. As soon as the two kitchens I am working on I will go onto a five and a half day week. Very much looking forward to that
John
Self employment is terrific! You can be successful and only work half time... Just pick any 12 hours out of every day and get your butt to work! ; )Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
I have to relax at least as much as I work ............
aint that why we work? So we can relax and enjoy the scenery?
Nick,
I can relate. It has been feeling like a cross between a marathon and running on a treadmill (meaning however fast I go I don't get further ahead).
I am shutting down the first of the year for a "sabbatical" as I can't take the never ending flow of work much longer. The motivating factor right now is that I have my highly skilled helper availible til the first of the year and the guy cranks out work at a phenomenal rate. I figure as long as there is an end in sight I can work as hard and as long as the next guy. Fortunately I am making great money, I just can't keep my family/personal life together with so much work.
If there is no end in sight then we better listen to the smartass (but valid) response preceding mine.
Karl
All you guys who work 10-12 hours a day, 6, 7 days a week better smarten up. You're gonna turn around one of these days and realize you don't know your wife; you're kids grew up without you; and you traded the healthiest years of your life for a few dollars.
Just look around, plenty of guys have done exactly that and wear it like a badge.
Funny how we all know "alchoholics" are sick, but many people admire "workaholics". Same sickness, different drug of choice is all.
Make your own choices, but understand you're only gonna get to breath for so many minutes. This is not a practice life.
Jim, I don't remember seeing my dad when I grew up. Now he's 75 and still keeps working for people. I wish he would have taken some time off when I was a kid. He took Sundays off sometimes, but he was so tired he wanted to nap all afternoon. It's not really worth it. Sometimes people get in a position where there is little choice but work as much as possible, but those who can turn down work but won't do have a problem.
I did those sixty and more hours weeks when I was young and in the pizza biz. Looking back on it...what a waste.
Today, I rarely put in more than forty hours in a week (not including paperwork, but there isn't that much of that...I don't put enough work in to generate a lot of paper...). And I frequently will put only thirty hours of work.
Cripe, with all the time this addiction takes, who's got time to work??
Time with family means so much. And it it not just because your children are gonna grow up so much faster than you think.
What if you die earlier than you think??
A buddy of mine had a kid a couple of years ago, and it was apparent right off the bat that he didn't want much to do with an infant. He talked about how he would take the boy fishing and camping in a few years. I pointed out that I thought if he really wanted a good relationship with the kid, he needed to be putting the time in starting right then. Don't underestimate what the infant is drinking in. I don't know if he listened to me or not...they were packing to move to Illinois as we talked.
But I do know that he died last week. I sure hope he got to know his son.
Rich Beckman
Another day, another tool.
balance.....Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I relax by going to my boys soccer games on Sat and Sunday. Plus during the week I teach him Karate ( got interested in it again after Clouds post a while ago on the subj) just this week 7 kids started. I only teach outta my garage and with my son that makes 8 kids. So Im gonna have to figure out how make it work. These kids are disadvantaged kids whose parent can barely afford to give them a place to live and food. So I dont charge them anything. I do it just for fun and it is fun plus I get to get some excersize right along with them.
Darkworksite4:
Estamos ganando detrás el estado de Calif. Derrotando a un #### a la vez. DESEA VIVO LA REVOLUCIÓN
Jim
I just got done working the weekend, both Sat. and Sun. We have to have this house done by Turkey day.
The guy I work for said today "look at it this way, you'll get 4 days in a row off, cant beat that"
I could'a smacked him with a 2X4, I told him that I worked the last two weekends, so I'm just getting the days off that I would of gotten off under normal circumstances, it's no break. Its not a break if you have to double up the 2 weeks before hand just to get time off.
I'm printing out your comment and taping it to his office door in the morning.
I used to work all the hours I could and now that I'm older, wiser, and more tired, I only want to work about 30 to 40 hrs. a weak, he likes to go about 60.
Doug
He's got his head up his ####.
Print that one out too. Here's my phone number if he has any questions (360) 458-3370. But tell him to call during business hours, West coast time.
Somebody said once, that of all the things a man looks back on with regret when he lies on his deathbed, there will probably never be a man who passes on thinking, "I wish I had spent more time at the job"
I look at it this way for reminding myself,
The Maker told us in the instruction manual, that he took a day off and resated after six hard ones. He tells us to do the same.
So when I'm tempted to work on Sunday, I ask myself, "Self, Who do you think you are that you are tougher than the one who piled up all those mountains? If he needed the rest, you do too..
Excellence is its own reward!
listen to the smartass
Although at times I can be....this time I aint being. There are fast carpenters who care..... there are slow carpenters who care more.....there are half fast carpenters who could care less......
hey carl, the harder you work the more the kids want. i just bought a snowmobile and another computer. my wife SAID
Do something, maybe everything, differently. At least for a time. You need a change. Not necessarily a rest. Builders and others in the construction trades, including myself, tend to be practical, hands on and literal. Exercising you emotional, poetic and romantic side for a bit, no need to break out the high heels, lace panties and pleated skirts unless you just feel like it, will do you a world of good. A change of location and faces can go a long way to refreshing your perspective.
Working skills and sides of your personality you don't often exercise often is more important than just a good work/rest cycle. I once spent about 20 hours flying a kite. Seemed to help. Good thing. Thought I was going to have to break out the lace. The boss hates when we do that.
It has helped me to remember that life is a sequence of priorities. make sure you know why you are working so much, what will it do for you? Plan the next stage and be sure you go to the next part of life when it's appropriate. In the mean time, go ahead and play some spades...
Been there, best wishes.
Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.
I'm like you. I want to work, 'cause I'm getting older (59) and I can't even think of retirement. Besides that, we're adopting again, a 5½ year old guy.
But I'm also Orthodox Jewish. That means on Friday afternoon at about 3:30 this time of year, the van is packed and I'm on the way home. If I spend Friday night and Saturday with the kids and wife. No phones. Not TV.
On Sunday, I start back again, but I have to go quiet, because I can't make noise on Sunday - local ordanances.
You need the time off.Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
like to play spades. play my wife. shes at kersenta3
I folded up the tent and went to work for somebody else. Money isn't as good but my stress level is way down, no more weekends, holidays or paperwork.
give the wife some christmas shopping $. tell her to take the kids, grabb some beers and go see a friend to watch the patriots