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If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

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Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#71

Post by Retric »

Arisaka1 wrote: post #33
hulitu wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people do not really work 70 hours / week. They just are present at work.

You assume that workload is binary you either work or you are just present. The intensity fluctuates even if you study for 1 hour. This isn't something exclusive to those who work more.

Low intensity is fine as long as it’s above zero.

For many jobs being available to do work has value, but a doctor on call that’s sleeping in the hospital isn’t actually working. As such it’s a perfectly reasonable to separate working from bing available to do work.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#72

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

> If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

Because I like it.

But, then, you probably wouldn't think of me as "successful." I'm not on anyone's payroll, and I won't be zipping around in any private jets, in the foreseeable future.

I would not agree with that assessment (I feel very successful), but it's not worth arguing about.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to work I go...

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#73

Post by munk-a »

slownews45 wrote: post #58
conductr wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t get burned out because I outsource it by burning my employees out. It works for every other billionaire. /s

The very successful folks working long hours do tend to have folks around them working long hours as well. Ie, Elon Musk is probably working long hours. If my goal was to NOT work long hours that would be a bad company to work for.

I've worked extremely long hours and there's a very big difference to me between working on a saturday on green-field development where what you're doing takes time but isn't particularly full of surprises - and trying to grind out a hard to find bug instead of enjoying the outdoors. I don't hate hunting down bugs myself - but dealing with fatigue from overwork while trying to find a needle in a haystack is much different from being able to cruise through some reqs like a badass using half your brain.

It's quite likely that the billionaires putting in long hours are doing so in tasks that are diverse and decisive enough to not be soul crushing - while outsourcing those soul crushing tasks to their subordinates... in fact if that isn't the case then they're executiving wrong.

Finally, being a found who benefits directly from every penny your company earns differs significantly from working plebs that might just be randomly fired tomorrow and will never see any benefit from the company doing slightly better. The motivation is there for Musk in a way it isn't for those who surround him.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#74

Post by bserge »

dvt wrote: post #61
paulpauper wrote: post #28

Wages for professionals, such as law, medicine, tech, finance, consulting, etc., have really ballooned over the past decade, since 2008 especially, even after accounting for student loan debt and inflation. This makes working long hours more attractive, as the financial payoff is so great both in terms of wages but also by investing one's income in rapidly appreciating assets such as stocks and real estate (the post-…

> Putting in long hours in your 20s and 30s to have a massive nest egg that will last you the rest of your life by your 40s seems like a good trade-off. Even amassing 7 figures by your late 20s/30s (very difficult to do reliably, also implies no debt, no adverse life events, etc.), is not remotely enough to make a "comfortable" living for the next ~5 decades of your life.

Define comfortable

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#75

Post by mikecoles »

inetknght wrote: post #17
neogodless wrote: post #15

The headline itself is an example of a question that answers itself. Another example would be "if you've saved up a lot of money, why don't you spend more?" Well because I saved it by not spending too much. And in this case, "success" is working long hours, because of what these workers believe. Success is the appearance of working hard, and having put the effort in. The article doesn't really address income/spending…

No, I don't think people work 70 hours because they're successful. I think they work 70 hours out of necessity and others think that makes them successful. If I were successful then I definitely wouldn't be _working_. Yet here I am working many hours and others claim I am successful.

Get a different job. If you don't love what you're doing, why do it? I you love doing something, why not get paid for it? People can be working 70 hours a week and enjoying it. Because you associate work with being miserable doesn't mean others do.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#76

Post by imtringued »

Nbox9 wrote: post #67
ballenf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the comment to be working hard is what brings satisfaction. Some people really enjoy hard work and aren't doing it just as a means to afford leisure.

I read the comment to say that a hobby might make him “truly happy” but because of the uncertainty of the future he’s working hard and getting some level of satisfaction from that. He’s maximizing for security not for happiness.

When everyone is doing that you have a recession.

http://www.pkarchive.org/theory/baby.html

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#77

Post by whytaka »

justinator wrote: post #39
whytaka wrote: post #32

Because I'm not nearly as good at any hobbies as much as I'm good at my job and being good at something is what gives me day-to-day satisfaction. Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future, I'm spending more time feeling good about work than finding and investing in a hobby that'll make me truly happy.

> Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future Hate to be the one to tell you this, but there is no guarantee on what the future may bring, money can't fix everything, and true security is a lie. Live your life in the here and now, before you regret wasting it.

I appreciate the angle but I think it's oversimplified.

I work almost just as much as I used to before but my life gets easier and better the more money I make. It's incredible to me the difference money makes. Compound interest is real and determining when it's enough is about determining the rate of growth in absolute terms relative to the cost of living you'd be happy with.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#78

Post by codegeek »

I work doing what I want to do so I don't count hours. Yes you need breaks and cannot always sprint 70 hour weeks but I absolutely would continue to do whenever I can because I am building my future with it. If you are in a dead end job working 790 hours, sucks to be you.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#79

Post by Salgat »

whytaka wrote: post #32

Because I'm not nearly as good at any hobbies as much as I'm good at my job and being good at something is what gives me day-to-day satisfaction. Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future, I'm spending more time feeling good about work than finding and investing in a hobby that'll make me truly happy.

This sounds like an unhealthy dependence on work to me. I enjoy my work but have far more fulfilling and enjoyable activities outside work. But hey, to each their own I suppose.

Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?

#80

Post by RandomLensman »

GDC7 wrote: post #22

The only true answer is that out there are 8 billion people waking up every day. And all they do is seeking social relevance, and by doing so they are inadvertedly diluting your own social relevance. There is not a mechanism which allows you to stop working and freeze your social relevance in place as some sort of videogame checkpoint type manner. You stop working and your relevance is eroded away...hell you could ke…

Not sure social relevance is really on everyone's agenda given how many high paying jobs don't really have that.
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