Re: It's been a great ten years

[fisher]

Don't have time? Make time. Watch a little less TV, read a little less Fail Blog, and stay current. After all, it's only your career.

I disagree at this point.

Want to watch TV? Well, watch it. Want to read something not related to your job? Read it. If you set artificial boundary to yourself, you fail. If you try to spell yourself a mantra like 'I really really REALLY don't want a candy' - you fail. And remember, you can't make more than 24 hours per day. After all, it's only your life.

[Your Mother]

I disagree at this point.

I both agree and disagree with this point. Living naturally can be healthy and good for your psyche. Discipline and artificial limitations can take you to new ground. One of the greatest inspirations to stretch and try new things in my life has been simple boredom. Hosing down that part of your psychological drives with mass media as a matter of course leads to atrophy.

[talexb]

If you set artificial boundary to yourself, you fail.

I'll buy that.

Personally, I've just lived through a couple of years of hell. I'm now (hopefully) coming out the other end. Yes, it's OK to hang out and relax in front of the TV once in a while, but when evenings become a TV marathon because you can't tear yourself away from Repo Games or 1,000 Ways To Die, it's time to quit.

I realized the problem, cancelled my cable in September and got a ton of stuff done, including getting a new home file server set up (with RAID-1), something that I've had good intentions of doing .. for the last 18 months.

It's a matter of finding the right work/life balance. IMO I was spending too much time frittering, and not enough time being productive. That's now changed, but I need to stay on top of it. That may not be necessary for you, but it's what I need to do for myself.