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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?

#121

Post by ActorNightly »

jlokier wrote: post #66
justinator wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

True security is a lie, but "relatively comfortably secure for the foreseeable future" is not. These days, it takes a lot of assets to be confident you won't be homeless in old age assuming no major surprises or threats from society and the environment changing. I would say most younger people don't earn enough or have enough assets to reach that level of basic confidence. After all, if you've rented all your life so…

Thats looking it through the last generations lens where stability = a geographical location to live with a house on it.

Ironically, as climate change effects become more and more prominent, going with a RV route is looking more like the best possible option for the future, cause you can just pick up and leave when bad weather comes.

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

#122

Post by stainforth »

munk-a wrote: post #73
slownews45 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 diff…

Right. It's about the autonomy. I do see a categorical difference between being the guy that gets asked to do something vs the guy whose job is to do the asking. Where does the former turn to? One has flexibility, the other has no where to turn.

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

#123

Post by whytaka »

mulderc wrote: post #114
whytaka wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

ok

I used to be rather poor so the difference is more pronounced. I've enjoyed a high salary for some time now but I'm still reeling from the change.

Being Canadian, I have access to public health, but if I get sick with even minor things, it'll take up my whole day. Now, if I get sick, I'll just pay the ~$200 fee to see a private doctor for 15 minutes, get what I need and get out.

Dental is not covered by public health, so there were at times I delayed treatment because I couldn't afford it.

I used to live in Vancouver where people will tell you they have good public transport but it's a lie. It's really only if you live along the skytrain corridors because the busses are always late and it's always raining. So if you don't have a car, you're wet, cold, late, and miserable. Now I just pay for Uber. Better yet, I just live downtown and I can walk wherever.

Going to the grocery store when I was poor was also difficult. Thinking about what I can afford means spending time comparing prices or even stores, and compromising on the meals I wanted to make. Now I just throw everything I want into the cart and I don't even look at the price tag.

Being poor sucks and there are countless more examples.

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

#124

Post by spywaregorilla »

codingdave wrote: post #97
slownews45 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. A lot of the "so successful" have a TON of help. At the home front things are covered - stay at home wife, cleaners etc. You come home, home cooked meal, wife happy to hang out go on a walk do whatever, kids taken care of. You go to work, you have the parking spot, the assistant with a schedule. Strong managers. Again, these are the "so successful" folks. The 70 hours of work is mostly meetings, strategy…

> You come home, home cooked meal, wife happy to hang out go on a walk do whatever That also feels outdated. I don't know many people who are happy to sit at home, prepare meals for their absent spouse, and then smile and be happy to do whatever that spouse wants to do when they get home. That feels like an image from the 50s, not 2021.

> happy to sit at home

Believe it or not, even 50s housewives did not sit idly, staring at the clock.

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

#125

Post by mulderc »

notme77 wrote: post #118
mulderc wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ok

That’s because you’re already above where money would constrain you. The vast majority of people are not. I suspect you know this.

I assume the person posting that is already there by the sounds of it.

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

#126

Post by gunfighthacksaw »

justwalt wrote: post #18
hintymad wrote: post #14

It's as if work is just toiling, but in reality it is not. Some people may just love meeting people and calling the shot. Some people may just love reading papers and tweaking and building systems. Some people may just love deriving equations and writing papers and giving talks. They call such activities work, but they enjoy doing them. What matters is not hours but choice: can one choose to use her time at her own w…

This is completely tangential to your point, but why did you choose to use “she” as the pronoun in your last sentence? I see this more and more frequently, and I assume it has something to do with being more inclusive (so as not to imply only a man could be the subject), but I don’t want to assume. Why not use “they” instead?

I forget if it was Tanenbaum’s OS book or Spivak’s calculus book, but they made a point to switch up the pronouns often which was pretty fun to read.

The singular they is probably preferable, but can start to feel ‘clinical’ if it’s the only pronoun you ever see for an entire textbook.

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

#127

Post by yupper32 »

Teknoman117 wrote: post #50
justinator wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Exactly. If society were to fall apart, the number in your bank account will matter very little, if it even exists anymore...

There are a massive amount of things between "society collapsing" and "nothing bad ever happens" where the number in your bank account matters greatly.

You have unexpected huge medical expenses. You are no longer able to work. You're fired and can't find a job. Tech salaries collapse. Your town in burned down/destroyed in a hurricane/etc.

etc etc etc

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

#128

Post by dvt »

cgh wrote: post #119
dvt wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

It is if you own a house mortgage-free. Dividend income on let’s say $1.5 million would be around $60,000/year. That’s pretty comfortable if your expenses don’t include shelter. That’s why my advice to young people is always to do what you have to in order to establish working credentials, then move somewhere cheap, buy a house and work remotely as much as you can. You’ll get it paid off in no time and that level of…

> On the downside, you’ll probably be living somewhere small and uncool and that may not be enough incentive to leave the bright lights of the city.

This seems like social life suicide. I'm in my 30s, single, and omitted dating much in my 20s (because -- surprise surprise -- I was working way too much). I can't really move to the middle of nowhere where the dating pool is non-existent.

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

#129

Post by JTbane »

ActorNightly wrote: post #121
jlokier wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True security is a lie, but "relatively comfortably secure for the foreseeable future" is not. These days, it takes a lot of assets to be confident you won't be homeless in old age assuming no major surprises or threats from society and the environment changing. I would say most younger people don't earn enough or have enough assets to reach that level of basic confidence. After all, if you've rented all your life so…

Thats looking it through the last generations lens where stability = a geographical location to live with a house on it. Ironically, as climate change effects become more and more prominent, going with a RV route is looking more like the best possible option for the future, cause you can just pick up and leave when bad weather comes.

>going with a RV route is looking more like the best possible option for the future, cause you can just pick up and leave when bad weather comes

what's the plan when fuel shortages start happening and your RV can't be kept rolling?

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

#130

Post by markuse »

heavyset_go wrote: post #47
Arisaka1 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling work "abstract busyness" devalues workers.

It's abstract busyness if those workers don't have a significant stake in the businesses they're keeping afloat, as they aren't among the owners who are made wealthy from their abstracted labor.

What about actually enjoying your work? I value that higher than whether or not I have any ownership in the company I work for.
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