[bhouser]

I still think you're strawmanning the essay (and I'm sorry you didn't figure out sooner what you wanted to do with your life - that really sucks!).

Bill Gates knew what he really wanted to do and what interested him so not taking a day off was probably a no-brainer.

If you had been able to realize earlier that travelling the world was what you wanted to do, then you could have put all your efforts into making that happen.

I think the essay is suggesting that merely working hard without enough of that effort spent on the directional problem won't yield the results you want, ultimately. So I think the suggestions here taken holistically are useful to a theoretical-younger version of you.