A Project of One’s Own
&quot;This is why it is a mistake to insist dogmatically on the &#x27;work&#x2F;life balance&#x27;. In fact, the phrase &#x27;work&#x2F;life&#x27; alone embodies an error: it assumes that work and life are distinct.&quot;<p>A beaten horse if there is one. It&#x27;s not a matter of being dogmatic or seeing the 6 sides of a die. It&#x27;s that, as PG says between the lines, for most people there is no particular excitement about work. For some it depends on the working conditions, for many it&#x27;s their personality. I don&#x27;t look for any particular excitement at work: I&#x27;m happy to work a few hours a day for a great paycheck on something I more or less enjoy.<p>PG, who writes as someone who has had overall a terrific time at work, by focusing only on work misses the larger behavioral point. Let me offer an example: I don&#x27;t know these days, but looking at PG&#x27;s photos from a few years ago, I can say with certainty that he was, and I hope for his sake that he is no longer, in not very good physical shape. I&#x27;ve worked out all my life, playing individual and team sports, in the gym alone and with others, and for me exercising and playing sports has overall been tremendous fun and has contributed greatly to who I am, what I&#x27;ve done, and what I&#x27;m doing. But I suspect for PG, to go to the gym or sweat or do anything physical has to be unpleasant, if not a nightmare. And I&#x27;m fine with that, he&#x27;d rather be doing other things, he&#x27;s probably (I&#x27;m speculating here) not particularly athletically gifted, and since he&#x27;s a very smart person, he can probably come up with 15 different rationalizations as to why he avoids doing enough physical activity to look better, feel better, and greatly reduce his risk of getting sick now and in the future. But, and I don&#x27;t think I&#x27;m exaggerating here, it&#x27;s likely that he simply doesn&#x27;t like to exercise and there&#x27;s no narrative about Olympic medals, great feats of physical endurance, or any dream of looking like a Greek god that would convince him to become a gym rat.  Similarly, there is no Apple story that could push me toward a 12-hour workday (or whatever time is being talked about) working for others (assuming I can avoid doing so)..