'The Zen Programmer' Went From Working 75 Hours/Week to an Amazing Work-Life Balance [Interview - Part 3]

Author of The Zen Programmer, Christian Grobmeier, has been sharing with us how he went zen and how doing so has inadvertently helped boost his productivity. Today, Grobmeier shares his new work schedule, which allows him to make time for cooking meals, playing with his kids and, of course, meditation. He went from working 75 hours a week to working from work and creating his own schedule, one that works for all aspects of his life. Grobmeier tells us more about his zen schedule below.

My schedule before consisted of work, beer and pizza.

Today I work from my home office. At first it might look a bit chaotic. I have no regular office hours these days, as I want to cook lunch, play with my kid or practice Shakuhachi in the middle of the day. I wake-up early and go to bed late. While others might think this is exhausting, it is interesting and fun for me.

I still manage to work a lot. Basically I never take vacations and usually I work on the weekends as well. I sometimes even do charity work in my spare time. The difference is that I don't feel stressed. My work today doesn't tell me that I "need" vacation. Instead my work has grown into my life. My life doesn't stop when I respond to my emails or do this interview. Also I don't want to tell my boy to not visit daddy when he is working.

To be honest, cleaning the house or building a sandpit does have the same importance as any other task. Sure, sometimes extraordinary events do need extraordinary reactions. But in the end, I don't differ that much between free-time and work-time.

I just take care of one thing at a time: when I play with my kid, I am not checking my emails. When I read my emails, I do not chat. When my wife asks me something while I answer this interview, I stop typing and listen carefully to her.

I try to do everything I do as well as I possibly can. And this requires full attention to each and every task you perform.

In the fourth and final part of our interview, Grobmeier will share his #1 productivity tip and why everyone should read The Zen Programmer.