[al_borland]

Maybe. It’s definitely easier to grind early in the career vs later in a career.

It’s also nice having the freedom to choose your grid. When I was grinding pretty hard (60-100 hour weeks), it wasn’t driven by my boss at all. My boss actually didn’t talk to me for 2 years during most of this.

Some time after that my boss told me my team was so far ahead I could take 3 months off to backpack through Europe. I didn’t do it, but he was actively encouraging it. This was all from that self driven grind, looking for gaps and opportunities and addressing them. Not every company offers this level of autonomy, but if they do, take it.

These days all my work is driven by management. The priorities change every week… sometimes every day. It’s much higher paced, much more stressful, and it sucks. We actually get less done, because we waste so much time trying to figure out what is actually important. Be careful what you wish for.