How hard do you work? (And for how long?)

We start in the shop at 5am working on shop work till around 645 tree work till around 4 or 5 no lunch or breaks just do what you need to do. I do all the aerial work and we have all the equipment that very rarely is any one doing any thing harder than holding a saw. Some days we hardly hood a saw. The guys don’t mind the hours. After work I’ll do a quick dinner with the family then out bidding jobs for an hour or two most nights. Do that Monday- Friday then Saturday Sunday I’ll work in the shop 5am- my daughter wakes up usually around 8am. And bid jobs as needed over the weekend but usually have my wife and daughter with me and take them some where to eat or go shopping for a bit.
 
AxeTree said:
We start in the shop at 5am working on shop work till around 645 tree work till around 4 or 5 no lunch or breaks just do what you need to do. I do all the aerial work and we have all the equipment that very rarely is any one doing any thing harder than holding a saw. Some days we hardly hood a saw. The guys don’t mind the hours. After work I’ll do a quick dinner with the family then out bidding jobs for an hour or two most nights. Do that Monday- Friday then Saturday Sunday I’ll work in the shop 5am- my daughter wakes up usually around 8am. And bid jobs as needed over the weekend but usually have my wife and daughter with me and take them some where to eat or go shopping for a bit.
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What do you do in the shop for nearly 2 hours every day? Plus, still have more to do on the weekends?
 
AxeTree said:
Love what you do and never work a day in your life!!
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I usually find people who say this very one-dimensional, boring, and often depressive. They don't have any other hobbies or interests, so they overcompensate for the one aspect of their lives that bring them any joy.

Not saying that's you, just pointing out that "love what you do..." mindset is incredibly toxic.
 
Boomslang said:
I usually find people who say this very one-dimensional, boring, and often depressive. They don't have any other hobbies or interests, so they overcompensate for the one aspect of their lives that bring them any joy...
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Really? Could it be that people you hear saying that are delusional and different from people that truly enjoy what they are doing and if so, does that make the saying false?

I have observed that people who are goal focused totally miss the beauty and importance of the moment.
 
Boomslang said:
I usually find people who say this very one-dimensional, boring, and often depressive. They don't have any other hobbies or interests, so they overcompensate for the one aspect of their lives that bring them any joy.

Not saying that's you, just pointing out that "love what you do..." mindset is incredibly toxic.
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I prefer “turn work into play, and soon as it stops being fun, QUIT” -Dad
 
L3VI said:
Typically 4-6 hours on-site. Not racing but not fucking around either. 1-2 15 or 30 minute breaks.
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Same for me. Usually get to the job at 9am, home by 2-3pm. If I can do this three days a week and then another day running quotes, that’s a good week. I try to leave three day weekends open but end up doing random stuff here and there, usually emailing proposals or a quick phc job.

I’m not a hustler, just trying to get my kicks before the whole $#iT house goes up in flames.
 
macrocarpa said:
Same for me. Usually get to the job at 9am, home by 2-3pm. If I can do this three days a week and then another day running quotes, that’s a good week. I try to leave three day weekends open but end up doing random stuff here and there, usually emailing proposals or a quick phc job.

I’m not a hustler, just trying to get my kicks before the whole $#iT house goes up in flames.
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I just made the call to go to a 4-day work week. I'm not getting any younger and I have other things I like doing too
 
Likewise. I take my padded overhead, labor, taxes and target net income, then estimate weeks off for health/winter/vacation and figure target $/week to do 3-4 day weeks. Sporadically crunch numbers for us and see what needs tweaking or schedule a few bigger jobs to catch up. Stress-contentment balance is tough.
 
Muggs said:
Balance is nearly impossible. Been doing 4 day work weeks since 2013. I like to say that 20 years from now the only people who will remember that you worked late, are your kids...
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Well yeah.
But if you’re sitting in your beach house, or retired in comfort thanks to your extra efforts during your working life rather than spending your declining years delivering pizza on your mobility scooter then you’ll remember all right.
 
I get that that is the prevailing mindset but I don't personally subscribe. I need peace and quiet now not in 30 years. I mean, I'll need it then too if I live that long but ideally I'll be partly busy and partly idle up to the end. Once my kids are grown in 10 years I'll be mostly idle as far as economic life goes.

You'll probably get there Mick, but people my age might not. When I get to the age of retirement we'll either all be idle mostly living off the fruits of our collective efforts in creating ai and machines for it to embody or we'll all be enslaved to the silicon gods, pumping water to keep the servers cool.
 
I’m not saying it’s my mantra. Far from it.

But as was explained to me by my big brother years ago when discussing saving money.
”it’s short term pain for long term gain”
Same goes for working longer/harder earlier in life.
A balance undoubtedly has to be struck, but there is definitly two sides to the coin.
 
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