At another forum I manage we’ve been talking about work-life balance and how important it is. So many of us get it wrong though.
I start my day at 5am so that I can get to the gym and back before my kids get up. I usually end my work day at 9pm (with a few hours in the middle being a mother). It makes for long days but I feel like I get a really good mix of work, exercise, family time and social stuff.
What about you?
My kids get up at 5:30 in the morning, so I get up with them for an hour, head off to work (at work around 7:00 AM) and then I’m home around 3:30 PM every day giving me some of the afternoon throughout the evening to spend with the family.
I must say, that it works out quite well.
I got the corporate life. Standard 40hr work weeks, 7:30 to 4. I’m up by 6 and out the door before 7 and commute 15-30min. Patch schedule of every 2 weeks and those are done at night, but the longest I’ve had one take is an hour. I usually work from home a couple days a week.
But, I enjoy what I do and I don’t get a lot of leeway or time to innovate, explore, and just generally play around at work… so I usually spend 2-3hrs (average) at home messing around with either my stuff or helping out friends with their projects. If I like what I do at home then I bring it to work and implement it.
No kids and my wife is still in school. We both started college a little late and she waited until I was finished before starting.
I need to start waking up earlier to work out, but I’ve gotten too used to waking up at the last minute. I’ve tried working out after work, but I usually don’t feel like it and I’ve always hated working out just before or after I eat.
Because I work with people in seven different time zones, my days are quite varied. I usually wake up around 6, check email and Slack for anything that cropped up overnight (this is a terrible habit), then catch up on email over breakfast. I like to walk to work when I can, so it takes me a good hour to make it to the office.
I like to take a good hour off in the middle of the day to relax, it’s invaluable in clearing my brain and breaking through problems. I usually catch up with our team members in Europe around 6 or 7pm (I’m based in Melbourne) and try to disconnect by 8 or so.
My husband works really long hours and usually works weekends, so our schedule can be quite “patchy”. I find it difficult to have a healthy work/life balance when my better half is out so much — it encourages me to stay in the office too late.
If you stop doing it I’ll quit.
I am a strong believer of balance in life. I believe we work not only for a decent living but work should keep us happy and involved in other aspects of life too. I begin my day at 4.30 and my work day ends around 7.30-8 and after that its family time for me. I work for them and love to be with them. ANnd I love my work too 
My day is typically 8 - 5, Monday through Friday. Being in government, I may get pulled in for extra hours when there is an emergency going on, which thankfully is rare. Outside of 8 - 5, I don’t look at work email. I forget work as much as possible and focus on what needs to get done at home, my girlfriend, hobbies, etc.
Typical day for me goes like this
5:40 - wake up
6:10 - out the door
Drive 25 minutes or so until work - maybe stop at Wawa and get food
Arrive at 6:45. Walk from campus to my office
7-3:30 work.
Home at 4:30.
Sitepoint/Netflix/Felgalls Javascript website until bed at 10pm.
Monday/Wednesday/Friday I gym for 2 hours.
I love it. I just moved to this area so I don’t have friends or a social life.
I do 9:30 to 6 work schedule 40 hrs a week. I really SHOULD go to gym…It’s on the same floor where I work at about 50 steps away w/ top quality equipments.
I’m impressed that so many of you are able to get up so early. My workday starts between 9-9:30 and I sleep late and get out of the house between 8-8:30. Workday ends at 5.
It’s not htat hard to wake up at 6 or so if you go to bed by 10P.M. I used to go to bed around midnight or 1A.M. and as soon as I started going to bed earlier, I’d be ready to jump out of bed by 6.
Lucky you. I get up at 6 am but I find almost impossible to get to bed before 12:30 am… and it takes me like ages to sleep
I’m tired all day every day (maybe it’s because I’m always in front of a computer or working out) so I can go to bed anytime I want. I could sleep righttt now but I’m headed home from work. I wish I was wide awake most of the day.
I think a lot of it comes down to ingrained habit. As kids we always got up at 6am, because that was how my family was. I’ve never changed and my family is now the same (my bf not so much).
This is key. I’m working on changing my sleep habits to what I would like them to be, but waking up late was how my family was. Everyone was constantly running behind in my house growing up.
It’s not that I want to… it is that I have to… It takes a minimum of an hour to get to work and most of the days my shift starts at 8 am so…
I’ve always been a bit of an owl so getting up early is a real pain for me. But, for some reason that I really don’t understand, I have to pay the bills every month so I have no choice 
Those of you that don’t get up early are going to have a shock when (if) you have kids!
I just got a puppy. I have since learned that I pretty much have no patience. I doubt kids will be in my future. lol
On the contrary I think your puppy is the one who’s going to teach you patience before you have kids.
I’m a father to 2 very active dogs and going to have a baby in Febuary. I can’t wait!
Congratulatiions, future daddy