Rest on Sundays

[Indiepath]

How many of you take Sundays off? And I mean 100% away from ANY computer on that day? (yes, checking "quickly" your email or "fast indiegamer forum checking" counts for being on computer :))

I have decided NOT to sit on computer on any Sunday. The Sunday is my day of rest and being 100% with the family (which includes a wife and a dog). Read a book or eat well. But no games, no Internet - no computer at all.

I have noticed the following things to happen:

My motivation to work on monday (and on the next week) is much higher because I'm feeling "eager to get to code"
I can charge my batteries better by being very lazy on Sundays - resting
My productivity has NOT decreased - in fact, I don't recall a single "I don't feel like coding today" day since I started doing this (before this I had maybe once in month or two a day when I simply stared on the screen... doing nothing) - I work more concentrated & motivated and this compensates the shorter coding time (compared to coding also on Sundays)
This has had a positive impact on family life: my wife appreciates the fact that I won't go to computer on Sundays. When family relations are fine, the coding tastes much better.


What are your opinions or comments on this? Are there others who take a day off every week?

[Savant]

Time off is very important. Sitting at your computer, working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week is the express train to BurnOutVille (Population: You).

Let your brain rest and let your subsconcious chew on your code for a while (even if it's only a few hours a day). You need that time to enable your mind to take a step back and see the bigger picture of the project.

Your productivity will be higher and what you produce will be of higher quality.

I'm not sure I agree with no computer whatsoever -- just not coding. Play games, lazily surf the web, or whatever. Just don't write code. That works for me.

[svero]

I find the opposite is true. If I stop working when I get back to the computer I have to "get back into it" ... which can cause me to lose several additional days or even weeks. I much prefer to work 4 months all out full time no rest or vacation followed by a few months off doing what I want and so on...

- S

[Anthony Flack]

Whenever I have the time and the energy, I'll drag myself to the computer and at least make a half-hearted effort to get something done. This is more likely to happen on a Sunday. It'd be great to have a day set aside for relaxing, but it's not really possible at the moment. Actually I find it very hard to relax at all these days, I seem to be keyed up and anxious all the time. Shit, now the baby's crying.

[Indiepath.T]

Heh, hello fellow Indiepath person, you know how much time I spend here... And yes I now make a conscious effort not to use the computer Saturday, Sunday or after 18:00 during the week.

I need "time-out" for the family and my sanity - I'd tear peoples heads off if I didn't get away from it (as you know too well) :D

[george]

the bible says to take 1 day off every week... it doesn't have to be saturday or sunday, just pick a day that is best for you and your loved ones... this is common sense and the benefits are obvious. god knows best :D

however, i am at a point in my "career" (as many indies are) where i need to work every single minute i possibly can, every day is crucial to my success. i just can't afford to not work for 1 day...

[Savant]

however, i am at a point in my "career" (as many indies are) where i need to work every single minute i possibly can, every day is crucial to my success. i just can't afford to not work for 1 day...
You actually could but you just don't believe it yet. The recharge your brain would receive from even a half day off would pay huge dividends.

[DanMarshall]

Unfortunately, I work monday-friday full on in a full time job. Weekends are pretty much the only time I can get a solid block of work done.

I have 'non coding' days when I stay at my girlfriend's place throughout the week -- as you mentioned, this leaves me keen to get back to it...

[Raptisoft]

I'm with Svero... when I stop, I lose the magic, and it takes me forever to get started again. Taking even a day without doing *anything* is disastrous. But I am able to take lots of half-days at times, working 3-4 hours only, and that's my rest.

[soniCron]

I too am going to have to go with Steve and John. If I miss a day of work, I'd rather continue missing work for the next 3 weeks! Keeping a consistent work schedule is the only thing that keeps my mind on target. Even when I do take time off (usually 1/3 of the same day my wife has off), I spend most of it with a pad of paper in front of me, jotting down ideas and thoughts.

[Chris Evans]

Recently I've designated Sunday as "Opposite Day". I don't necessarily take the day off, but I try to do something different. If I've been coding for several days straight during the week, then I'll do 3D modeling on Sunday or maybe write game design notes in my notebook.

So I take the day off from my normal work, but I still try to keep my brain active and stay in the flow by doing something related to game development. Like Svero and Raptisoft, it takes me a long time to accelerate back to top efficiency/productivity if I take a complete day off from any work.

I actually have statistical proof. :) At the end of every day I give myself a letter grade of how productive I was with work, then I enter the grade into a calendar and any additional notes. It's a great way to look at my productivity trends over a span of several weeks. One thing I noticed is that after a full day off (like a Sunday), the next several days usually look like this: D, C-, C... Sometimes it takes all the way till Thursday or Friday until I see a "B" or "A". Whereas when I take an "Opposite Day", the next several days usually look like this: B, B, A-... So clearly for me this works better.

When I need to spend time with my family or get some rest, I usually take the "Daylight" hours off and spend time with them or nap sporadically. But then when everybody's asleep at night I usually work for 3-4 hours straight. I find this to be very productive for me as well. One of the perks of being a fulltime Indie. :)

EDIT: Basically what SoniCron said. :)

[Robert Cummings]

I don't have any specific boost spending time away from the computer. I've tried it up to weeks at a time. All the rest you need should be gotten in the same day if you can.

Down tools at 6pm, take a break, family time, food. Maybe a little game play late at night - at the pc or in bed ;)

Then repeat. Enforcing rigid rules like no pc on sunday is the sort of thing your missus would tell you to do... she has, hasn't she?

Indiepath.T/Indiepath.B/etc is under the crushing weight of the thumb :D

[Musenik]

Don't know how to delete a thread.

[Musenik]

My deal is, I work when my wife works. Add in her commute time, and that gives me the game developer minimum of 10 hour days. She's a manager at a grocery store. So her days off change from week to week. It's hard to find a rhythm, but I just 'do the next thing' until I'm back in the swing.

[simonh]

It's hard to find a rhythm
Um, hate to say it but judging by your two posts above I think your rhythm is broken ;)

[Black Hydra]

It is what works best for yourself that matters.

I have read about a lot of extremely successful people that adopt very different strategies to work.

Some people, like svero, like to work constantly for a long period of time and then take a long break.

Others work in a gradual pace limiting their work hours each day and taking a day or two off here and then.

Nonetheless, I think breaks and vacations are very important. I find my best ideas and most motivation come from after a week long hiatus. I would like to be more paced (and therefore more predictably scheduled) but I'd have to say I fall into Steve and Dan's camps... I will often have a sole focus on the project for a few months, then when I see my level of interest and focus dropping I take a break for about a week so I can reorganize my thoughts. Each time I have done this I have noticed that I can come back with renewed zeal and creativity.

Some people mentioned that they can't afford to take time off. I think you can't afford not to. Whenever you are feeling the effects of burnout take some time off to recouperate. My advice, buy some books and read them to help give you new ideas, then you are still benefiting your profession even if you aren't doing work currently.

[arcadetown]

Time off... what's that?!

[Sirrus]

I'm starting to feel that I need a day off...
Sitting in front of this computer from 8am to midnight every night isn't healthy ;)

I just burned out this weekend...in a few days I think I'll be back into the swing.

[Ratboy]

Absolutely take a day or two off every week. I've tried it both ways, and I get work done faster for my clients if I only work five days a week, and then only 8 or so hours per day. I only put in long hours when I absolutely need to, and I'm finding that I don't need to that often these days.

[yanuart]

anybody needs to unwind, that's for sure but everytime I'm away from computer and not working, the other half of my brain keep saying : "must work... can't slack.. must work". I swear to god, there's must be someone playing that tape while i'm sleeping to hypnotize me :D

[arcadetown]

Didn't you know that the infomercial marketers made a deal with TV makers to put in sleep detection devices that play infomercials while you sleep? Here comes uncontrollable urge to get back to work so can afford more diet pills, George Forman grills, and Girls Gone Wild videos (order doesn't matter).

[Indiepath]

Enforcing rigid rules like no pc on sunday is the sort of thing your missus would tell you to do... she has, hasn't she?
Not sure if you meant me, but I think I was not enforcing "rigid rules". More like telling what I had experienced. And no - my wife did not say this, this was my idea (altough wife did say "I appreciate that" *after* I started doing this) :D

And then I must say that I'm with Black Hydra here (who claims to be with Steve/Dan :)) - I think that post put it all together very nicely:
- Do what suits best for *you*
- People have different strategies on breaks: some like to work half day every day of the week. Some prefer to work on every day for several months and then rest weeks. Some (like me) work for 5-6 days a week and then rest one day.
- Rest is important

Actually, my post has kind of two sides: not to USE COMPUTER, not to WORK. These are two different things. I must say that I get ideas on Sundays and when I do I will sit lazy, close my eyes and think some more... and when something needs to be written down, I write it down.
This can hardly be counted as work altough it kind of is. Anyway, I think being one day off from computer works like magic (for me) to get me back to computer motivated as hell - yet you still get to do some design, if you wanna.


Keeping a consistent work schedule is the only thing that keeps my mind on target.
@soniCron: Taking Sundays off (or resting one day per week or half day each day) does not mean that your work scheducle wouldn't be consistent.

Black Hydra mentioned:

Some people mentioned that they can't afford to take time off. I think you can't afford not to. Whenever you are feeling the effects of burnout take some time off to recouperate.
I really think the same. Look for example *SOME* athletics. They start exercising every single day of the year, several hours per day because they "want to get in shape fast". They might be able to continue this pace for couple of years (or maybe more) but eventually there's a breaking point (and they don't gain strength as fast as they wanted). That is the point when they will be overexhausted, their pulse will get really high, every step will feel really heavy, they can't sleep, list goes on. So they must train harder. They fail to see that muscle strength is built when you *rest*. Fixing this will take lots of time. And will mean very serious (and long) resting.

In some cases. Not always. But I do know this happens to people who exercise too hard.

Okay, that is not an example from indie game development. But nice horror story anyway ;) I think same laws apply on any work: if you work too much, too long, without resting - something will break. Maybe it's your computer... Maybe it's your physical health. Maybe your mental health. Maybe your network of friends. Maybe it's your nearest relationship. It may take time before something breaks - but eventually it will. And fixing (if even possible) it will take much more time than preparing for it before it happens.

----------------------------------- Bottom line: (you gotta draw it somewhere you know)
Most people seem to agree that rest is important. Even though one might have different working habits they still take time off and act lazy. I think it's best NOT to listen me (hey, I'm just telling you my experiences!) or others outside your house. I think it's best to hear yourself (and your better half - your wife - if you are planning to keep her ;)). Do what suits for you.

[soniCron]

if you work too much, too long, without resting - something will break. As much as I'd love to disagree with you, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, I won't feel the luxury of relaxing until I open my doors. Only then will I feel I've accomplished enough to take a good vacation. Of course, I'll have to deal with support issues, but that's another thing altogether! :)

[Sharpfish]

I'm starting to feel that I need a day off...
Sitting in front of this computer from 8am to midnight every night isn't healthy ;)

I just burned out this weekend...in a few days I think I'll be back into the swing.

I burned out some weeks ago. I kept going. I was knee deep in 3 half finished proto-types, then I started looking around at new technology.. which sowed doubts (framework robustness) in my mind. From there the poison set in slowly.

I would have "re-covered" within a week normally but I did the one thing guaranteed to upset your focus. I moved house (150 miles away). I coded 8-16 hours, often staying up through the night for WEEKS before moving, and even the start of the week I was due to move, the packing wasn't even done and I had a million and one things to sort out (luckily my fiancee' was taking care of at least half of the "paperwork" side of moving).

I coded and kept coding knowing that IF I stopped I would loose the flow I had built up over many months since leaving my full time job (in the games industry) because of moving.

I would eventually go to bed at 8am or there-abouts, and wake up about 12 (4 hours sleep a day) and would get panic attacks/feel very anxious about all the things I had to do for moving house (as anyone who has moved house will know - it can be pretty stressful and hardwork). Eventually on the wednesday night I gave my last full effort (I was moving on the saturday) to coding, and packed it away.. real life just had to take priority.

That was on june 11th.. almost a month ago. I am now settled back in, even have freshly installed windows/dev envrionments. I can't seem to get that old rythm back though. Obviously the move threw up many pressing issues, things you can not "switch off" when you are trying to devote so much time to coding.

In all honesty though I had reached burn-out even before moving and kept pushing because if I wasn't coding/designing/modeling, then I felt "guilty".

So my view of it is as was said above.. do what works for you! Do not get any fancy "New-age" ideas that go against your current proven productive methods, it could take months to re-cover from.

If you take sundays off, or after 6pm off and you are happy with your productivity then don't change. As I am still trying to find my flow again, I can possibly afford to try out different working patterns to see If I can avoid the burnout I got before..

there is nothing worse that knowing you SHOULD be working on your software but nothing make sense or you go around in circles feeling stressed. Having days off may induce that in some (as it certainly has in me) in the same way working constantly may burn someone else out.

I have also found energy levels lacking post -move and need to start excercising and eating better asap.. the number one killer of productivity for me is lack of mental energy. It creeps up on you and takes ages to get back (anyone got tips for increasing this?)... you'll know when you are low on it when you head spins a lot when looking at code and you feel lethargic about 3 hours after getting up!. All of last week I felt I had low mental energy.. I know it was my brain that was worn out because I went out and did physical things (even relished it) like work on the car, mowing numerous lawns (I got addicted to lawn mowing at one stage, maybe to get away from computers, maybe because I had built up physical energy that I needed to use up :) ).

For the last month I have slept the most normal pattern for a long time (a normal nights sleep) but feel extremely tired in the day. Before the move I would stay up late, with ZERO distractions and work solidly for 12+ hours, it was great ;)

Maybe some people work better at night compared to in the day, just as some feel better staying in "the zone" as long as possible.

All I know is, the next time I get a free ticket to board the productivity train I am riding it until the last stop and not getting off to rest, procrastinate or move house ;)

[Robert Cummings]

It's said that something like 1 minute of interruption equals 10 minutes trying to get back into it.

I think thats true, but if you're focussed, you ought learn to take the interruptions as being part of the work: then you can slip in and out of work as you need to.

It should be viewed as a menial task, not as a creative work/supreme intellect creation. Because then you've no excuses, just get on with it.

I think taking friday night, saturday and sunday off like every other job is likely to do you all the world of good, you pasty skinned pale freakish nerds.

[Savant]

So is working 7 days a week, 16 hours a day supposed to make being an indie developer look attractive or something? :)

[Anthony Flack]

I think taking friday night, saturday and sunday off like every other job is likely to do you all the world of good, you pasty skinned pale freakish nerds.


Fine if you have the luxury. But I already have a day job, and an evening job, and a family. So taking time off=doing no game development at all. Yes, I have been taking some time out to relax; usually around 10-11 on Friday and Saturday nights, once the family is asleep, I'll clear out of the house and go hang out at a friend's house for a couple of hours.

But in doing so, I'm also giving up my best chances to work for more than 20 minutes without interuption. But what the hell. I'm burned out before I even begin to work on the stupid game.

[vidalsasoon]

I can go a couple months at a time without writing a single line of code. It's often to get my mind off it a little and simplify. There's so much involved in making a half decent game it can get overwhelming.

[Sirrus]

I agree with most of the things you experienced Paul/Sharpfish...

Working non stop can cause anxiety and panic in real life - especially head spins...just looking at the monitor for more than a minute would cause this. Developing is sometimes addictive, especially if theres something new you want to try out.

I agree that Trump's quote is bad - sure you should enjoy your job, but everyone suffers from burnout at some point if they don't take care of it.

[terin]

Unless there is a Crisis I am re-active on weekends as opposed to Pro-active. It doesn't mean I don't work, I just don't SEEK work. I let people e-mail me and call me and I answer... but most of my time is spent playing video games ...

-Joe

[Savant]

This (http://workingsolo.blogs.com/working_solo/2005/07/insane_small_bu.html) seemed timely and relevant to my previous comments.

[Uhfgood]

What about the other way around? What if you seem to rest alot (ie lazy) and you want to get to the point of working to where people tell you you need to take a day off. How do you do that?

[Savant]

Go ahead and get your rest. My groceries aren't going to bag themselves. ;)