I’m regularly putting in 60 to 70 hours a week, and by the time the day’s over, cooking just isn’t happening. I end up grabbing whatever’s quickest, usually fast food. I can tell it’s catching up to me physically and mentally, and it’s starting to worry me. I know this isn’t sustainable, but I genuinely don’t see how people manage to eat well when they barely have time to breathe. How are others handling this without burning out even more?
22 replies (most recent on top)
@qn That is great, do you also put a cute design on your PowerPoint and go out to take a 20 minute stroll?
Cry me a river. You get insurance. And that's all you need to survive. Be smart and do the right investments outside and dont put Cisco above everything coz it surely does not. Get your paycheck and invest the right way
That’s the Cisco mind fu€k, work harder, do more busy work and you won’t get laid off.
It’s all a lie. You are ki-ling yourself for nothing.
#1 go to the Dr. get your health checked. Chances are good you have high blood pressure or heart disease.
#2 walk every day. Don’t only do strenuous exercise because your body is already in constant fight mode. Too much cortisol. Move your body gently so it relaxes/reduces the fight hormone.
Eat. Snack. Through the day. Set reminders on your calendar. Stay mindful of sugar. Your high stress hormones drive sugar cravings
Stay hydrated. Count one extra cup of water for every cup of coffee.
Sleep. Have good sleep hygiene. Nap on the weekends with no guilt. When you sleep, your brain scans your body to heal.
Don’t give a fu€k about Cisco because they don’t give. Sh!t about you.
Good luck and be well.
For everyone proudly proclaiming they can do their jobs in a few hours a week realize you "work" for the world's most incompetent management and if you aren't using the rest of that time to bulk up skills you are likely getting more useless by the day. I worked with too many people at Cisco who could have been great in the right environment and like most of Cisco's development staff dissolved into being worse than useless by creating many hours of bugs with each hour of "development."
As someone who has sustained far more than 60-70 hours for long stretches on developing great new technologies at good companies and trying to help teams that dug themselves into bottomless pits of technical debt at bad companies, it's not the time, it's the crapulence of the work, workplace and pay that drives burnout.
I can do my entire job within 10-15 hours a week - and this is going above and beyond. I have time to workout 4-5 times on weekdays. It's all about time management. OP is pi-s poor with time management, clearly.
@df you think you have time change for your sake? Change or dont change i bet noone here cares about you or your health or if you live or die. Stop answering your own posts. Stupid way but its the Cisco way to answer your own obvious question.
Typical loser mentality. If you actually work 60 to 70 hours and I mean actual productive work, it would show in the outcomes and results. You are either just a troll or have no time management and work on low level non important projects that require no brain work. Your fear should be replacing by AI and automation as it seems you are doing clerical work
If this is true, you should look for a different job all you can.
When you take a close look at people who claim to be working 60 hours a week, its only about 20 hours of real work with the rest being mismanaged and wasted
the longer you "work", the higher the percentage of wasted time...this is why people who claim to work 80 hours a week seem curiously unproductive
You're a malevolent, dark-souled individual, who tries (and fails) to dampen others' good spirits, by stomping on kindness and helpfulness, while threatening to cut off sustenance...all so you can feel some faux sense of "power" over those who clearly shine with light and love toward others.
The reason why you (ironically) feel threatened by and hence seek to destroy goodness, is simply because you are aligning yourself and allowing yourself to be overtaken by evil. You're not only enjoying this horribly wrong choice of yours, but have foolishly convinced yourself that the way you try to control and oppress others, is a "winning" strategy.
Poor sad little twisted self-loathing control freak.
I pity you.
You compare yourself to a wolf, well I'm a lion.
I align myself with Jesus Christ and know that you will be meeting them face to face one day, as we all will.
What will you have to say for yourself then, regarding your actions toward others while here on Earth?
Reflect.
Repent.
Work on being sanctified.
Life here on Earth is short.
Choose wisely.
people like Post ID: @bk+1kdn03w1s make it miserable to work at Csco , take your cut up vegetables and little lunchbox and go F your self. we Wolves tolerate you but make our skin crawl, but dont worry as we ascend in power we will be sure to show you the door.
Ah, working to live at Cisco. Fun isn't it? Too much "fun" will send you to your local Hospital ER with stress symptoms. If you have no alternative, get a doctor to get you on meds to keep your system from overload. Find peace where you can. Then develop an exit or at the least a relaxation strategy. Don't be afraid to internal clients NO. Don't be a "Yes" person to management. Pace yourself. Good luck.
Legendary Italian fashion designer, Giorgio Armani, who passed away September 4, 2025 said "My only regret in life was spending too many hours working and not enough time with friends and family."
Abuse the system. Abuse the companies trust. Work 20-25 hour weeks and refuse to come to the office. Do the bare minimum. Then when they really need you, pull through and hammer home just how impactful your work has been. I can see that in your position, you have already build a reputation of being a workhorse so for you it might be too late to make a change (unless you change teams, position or job).
Ive been doing this for 4 years and got 2 promotions.
It is obvious you are working for political managers who do not know how to actually manage. Toxic. 🥺
@bk Thanks for these great suggestions! I'm usually so tired on the weekends that I spend them mostly just relaxing and ordering in, but I think I'll have to change that for my own sake.
From the looks of it only J2 works more than you in the entire company. Congratulations @OP you should be promoted to VP or SVP
I’m working 2 hours a day and I’m way more productive.
Just do your 8 then skate.
Refuse extra work (while always being ready to offer an alternative way in which they can get the work done, using other people, teams, or avenues without burning you out.) Just say you don't currently have the bandwidth, "but maybe _ can ___ instead." And stick to that.
Let the managers manage. It really isn't your job to allocate and delegate, but you can gently suggest and nudge, while being polite and professional, and establishing your own parameters. Get your work done, but don't do yourself in. It's not worth it. And they'll never appreciate your effort anyway...if anything, they'll disrespect you for being a "su---r" by taking on more than they know they should be piling onto you. Push back, but do it pleasantly and professionally. lol.
You are not a slave, you are a free person.
Act accordingly.
As for the food situation, do your weekly grocery shopping (if you can afford delivery, do it online), then reserve a couple of hours on Sunday to home cook batches of food for that upcoming week. Get freezer Ziploc bags, to put portions of the big batches into, and that way when you get home on a weeknight, just pop the Ziploc into the microwave on defrost mode, then heat up immediately afterward. Bo-m. Dinner's done.
Also on Sundays, make a big batch of a starch or two (mashed potatoes are easy: cut them up, boil, drain, then mash w/ butter...you don't even need milk.) Also, make a batch of rice or noodles then, and keep in a container in the fridge. Same with cooking a whole chicken - it's easy, just bake at 350 for 1&1/4 hrs. - done.
Once the chicken's done, tear the meat into pieces, and store that meat separately in the fridge. Throw the chicken bones into a pot, add water to cover the bones, add spices (and soy sauce and/or Worcestershire sauce) bring to a boil, then simmer for 3 hours (you don't have to do anything with it, just let it do its thing!). Cool pot in fridge, skim off the fat the next day, and you've now got a bunch of bone broth for free, ready to use for soup or making sauces for your evening meals!
Also on Sunday, cut up some veggies that you've had delivered and keep them in separate bags or bowls in the fridge, so they're easy to access in the evenings without any prep. (brussels sprouts, carrots, tomatoes, etc.) Use them raw or quickly boiled for a few minutes, to stir in with one of your pre-made starches, protein, and add a tablespoon or two of your favorite emollients (ranch or thousand island dressing, for cold - or soy sauce and butter for re-heating in the microwave) for a "bowl" that would cost you a lot if you ordered from Sweet Garden or Chipotle. DIY to save money. It is worth the time to do on a Sunday, to have all of that ready to go anytime during the weekdays.
Or if you really want to go low-budge/viens vite, just scoop out half a can of chili onto some of your rice or noodles, add some frozen spinach or broccoli (get them in the big bags, frozen) stir it all up with some shredded cheese, then pop into the microwave. Takes all of 3 minutes, max. Voila!
Get some deli meat and cheese in your groceries too, to have on hand for a quick cold dinner, along with some olives and good bread. You can easily bake no-knead/no yeast bread or rolls on Sundays, too!
Just reserve a couple of hours on Sundays to do this. It's totally worth it, and actually a nice way to wind down the weekend...enjoy some nice wine while cooking - have fun with it, knowing you're saving money and eating healthfully by doing it yourself!
"Don't confuse hard work with results" - John Chambers
work and long hours only gets you more of the same, there are only a few people on the team that do 90% of the work, so they are happy to keep dumping it on you. Cisco is all about politics and appearance , walk around like you own the place, stare down all the little brownies , keep quiet unless asked then use the word salad they do and bo-m youre a VP. Look at little EK , karate little king, he struts around like the bully from a christmas story, with no clue how stupid he sounds or looks , but again who cares as long as they keep feeding the burnout peasants to the volcano.
Stop putting in 60-70 hours a week. Otherwise you're signaling to everyone that nothing needs to change because the work is still being completed.