[timjahn]

The people who advocate "balls to the wall" practices and "not making it home for dinner every night" scare me.

When it's all said and done, and you're ready to leave this world, what are you going to think about? Who are you going to want by your side? What are you going to care about?

If it's all the amazing startups you created, or the enormous sums of money you made, or the years of never making it home for dinner to see your wife/husband/kids/dog/whoever, then you're on the right track.

But if at the end of the day, life means more to you than ferociously competing to see who can work more hours in a week, why the hell are you doing this?

[ryandvm]

Agreed. I suspect there are very few people that lie on their deathbeds and wish they spent more time at work.

[dingfeng_quek]

why should desires just before death take precedence over desires during the prime of life?

[icebraining]

OTOH, OP didn't say he's planning on doing this for the rest of his life. He's 24, chances are he doesn't have kids, so if he could trade some time now for time + money in the future, isn't it a reasonable option?

[colemorrison]

Yep. YC'ers have probably read some Paul Graham essays. If so, one of best perspectives I saw from him was:

"...What it amounts to, economically, is compressing your working life into the smallest possible space. Instead of working at an ordinary rate for 40 years, you work like hell for four. And maybe end up with nothing-- though in that case it probably won't take four years."

I think it's also key to hit that if you enjoy it, then hell, why wouldn't you want to reminisce about it?