[mancerayder]

The people in the 40 hours, though, dream of the working for yourself, at least you're the cause of success and failure instead of an unpredictable re-org, a new boss, a rapid company expansion or shrinking, a colleague who wants your throat, etc.

But a 24/7 stress of self-employment is not for the faint of heart either. What's the compromise?

[lelandbatey]

The compromise is to work somewhere, usually somewhere small, where you don't have unpredictable re-orgs, new bosses all the time, rapid company expansions/shrinkages, colleagues who want your throat, etc. It especially helps if it's somewhere there's mutual trust between everyone to say "hey, I think this is the most important thing so I'm going to take X days/weeks and work on this. Things will be better/more efficient/more profitable/easier in Q ways as a result." And then you do it, and things are better, and the business chugs along.

Such places don't exist forever, and they don't tend to be massive growth situations. But they are probably what many people yearn for.

[garrickvanburen]

I was my worst boss. For a long time. Took 5(+?) yrs to recover.

[WalterBright]

> at least you're the cause of success and failure

If only most people realized that :-)