[nostrademons]

Your argument extends beyond work. What do you think folks with a work/life balance do with the "life" part? Veg out? Play videogames all day long?

I've gone through periods of intense workaholisms, and I've gone through periods of laid-back socializing. I found that my work performance - as measured by promotions, salary, being put on important projects, and getting good jobs - actually improved when I let go and didn't focus so hard on work. Why? Because I came across as more confident and easier to work with. Because all the time spent hanging out with friends, going to parties (which I'm not sure I really enjoyed - I'm an introvert by nature), getting coffee with random strangers, etc. translated into improved social skills, which translated into better work performance. Because I had time to be curious and let my mind run wild, which is the birthplace of creativity.

There are certain intangibles that you miss when you're heads-down toward a goal, and you don't realize you've missed them until you've been working hard for 10 years and then seen people seemingly inexplicably pass you by with far less effort or technical skills. I know a lot of older scientists & technologists that are really bitter about this, forever complaining about how idiots rule the world, but I chose to accept that this is the reality and figure out why idiots rule the world, and what I was missing that prevented me from ruling the world too.

'Do you really think Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Larry Page, Steve Jobs, etc, got where they were by saying "well, I've done 35 hours of 'smart' work now, I need to stop an meditate?"'

Steve Jobs said pretty much exactly that: "I wish him the best, I really do. I just think he and Microsoft are a bit narrow. He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger." -- On Bill Gates as quoted in "Creating Jobs" in The New York Times (12 January 1997)

[paranoiacblack]

First of all, you're talking about "workaholism." I'm not. I'm saying that there's nothing wrong with working extremely hard and that it doesn't imply inefficiency of less 'smart' work. Realize that there are things that are actually inherently hard and that you might, just maybe, need to work more than 35 hours a week to get them finished!

Also, the Steve Jobs quote is cute, but doesn't really address what I'm saying. Steve Jobs is purely saying that Bill Gates should have probably enjoyed his life more, but that doesn't mean he couldn't also work hard. There are actually 168 hours in a week. You can work for 60 hours and still drop acid, it turns out. You don't have to call it quits at 35 hours because you're supposedly working 'smarter' and Steve Jobs definitely didn't.