I work at a very fast growing startup and we all aim to work super hard and efficiently.
If we look at the team, approx. ~50% are working out constantly, eating clean, meditating, etc. But then the rest are often dragging themselves as if they couldn't care less about where their long term health is going.
As an anecdote, one founder must be like 10% body fat, does marathons, meditates constantly and probably doesn't ever sleep less than 8 hours. At the same time, the other founder has admitted not making it to the gym for years now, is always sleeping less than 6 hours, and isn't at all on top of eating right.
Do we ever really gain in productivity by sacrificing these things? I've found myself plenty of times skipping the gym because I feel I "must" get a particular PR out or make sure a project hits some arbitrarily-dated timeline.
I've always imagined that at a certain point when you've "made it" that this becomes a healthier balance. But, from what I've seen in peers a few steps ahead of me, it looks like as success grows this only gets harder.
What about you? What's your relationship with your health/wellness/choose-your-own-term and how has it evolved with your career?
You answered your own question. It's usually not about maximizing productivity or anything else, it's just not caring or not thinking about their future health. We all have different priorities.
But for the first I dunno 25 years of my life, I didn’t workout, smoked, drank 2 liter mountain dews and ate like crap, and I felt and looked great. I basically just kept doing that until I couldn’t, and I think some people that goes on for longer than others.
One of the happiest people I knew was a total hedonist, who dranked, ate and smoked himself to a heart attack in his fifties. And he had much more energy than me, a guy who ran marathons. He used to run circles around me at work(a physical job, catering) and would often ask why I worked out for energy/strength. He didn’t understand the point.
Sometimes, knowing that you have a cushion helps to take things in a more relaxed way, which can lead to focusing on health, food, etc.
Maybe the unhealthy founder is risking more with the startup and that creates stress.
Why would you assume everyone is going to do Gattaca-style exercise daily, have the same mental fortitude, etc.?
Maybe Jane or John is just completely wiped out by work and then goes home to their 10 kids and spouse who drain them further.
Yes, variance is the spice of life. If everyone lived the same, we'd be ants.
I wonder though if there's a path where sacrificing some amount of time at work could eek out net-positive output over the right timeline.
It's just hard not to feel for seeing folks stuck in the spiral of trying to manage so much. And I just wonder whether -- if, say, their employer gave them the space to do so -- if spending just some time on getting "healthier" could help.
Sitting here on a keyboard in abstract though I'm obviously oversimplifying and can't deny at all how hard things are for folks balancing both a demanding work and home situation.
About 6 or 7 years ago I stopped smoking, and I couldn't find any more excuses, and got myself a gym membership. After being scared to actually go to the gym for about 3 more months, once I took a deep breath, and made my first visit.
After 15 minutes I almost died, I was so exhausted. I was very disappointed, and went to the burger king next door. I paid for my order, and when I got it, I got disgusted by myself. I threw it to the trash without touching it, and next day I went back to the gym.
I continued doing so for months, until I eventually got a 4-pack (I never got to a 6-pack, grrr).
And at this point an old colleague sent me an email, with a job offer, out of the blue.
The job was very good - the guy knew that I would love it, and I did, too much actually. I pulled 16 hours long workdays (which I enjoyed, mentally), started to eat crap again, and in a year I couldn't button my shirts.
At this point I quit - I felt that my physical health was deteriorating, my body was begging to stop. It took over a year to get back in form again. My job is worse than it was, but I couldn't control myself when I was having way too much fun.
Do you think those 16 hours would've really been more productive than if the environment/culture allowed for, say, 15 hours and you'd have 1 hour more for just "life". Or even as far as 12.
Curious whether it really becomes net positive productivity. I feel like it really doesn't work to push past a certain point so I'm wondering more and more why the hell do we all do it so often haha?
But the project I was working on was very interesting, my tasks were also pretty interesting, the team was mostly assembled of competent people, and I enjoyed every second I spent on the project - I actually tried to spend as much time on it as I could. Was almost like an addiction... I just kind of neglected many other things.
Funny world.
Of course, not taking care of yourself is a negative feedback loop, because it makes you more depressed which makes it harder to take care of yourself which...
Have you ever witnessed someone come out of this loop?
While stepping back from work to make their own life a priority. Absolutely, yes.
It just feels inefficient though to me a bit. There's been plenty of times in my life where I've been in "grind" mode and sleeping less, eating poorly, not working out, etc. in order to be "more productive".
But in all cases, looking back, I feel like I was really just spinning my wheels. Like if I were to take those months here and there and work 1 hour less each day to just eat a salad, take a walk, sleep more -- I feel like I'd probably have made better contributions to our goals.
Hard to know since it's all a bit of a retrospective exercise.