On working too hard: finding balance, and lessons learned from others
Anything that suggests that work is the beginning, middle and end of life is utterly and completely misguided in my humble opinion.<p>As the great sages tend to say, you&#x27;re not going to be on your deathbed wishing you&#x27;d signed that extra deal, you&#x27;re going to be lying there thinking of your family, your love, the time with your kids.<p>Now that&#x27;s not to say there aren&#x27;t moments in your life when you&#x27;re up for working hard. And your 20&#x27;s can be a good time for this: you&#x27;re full of energy, you&#x27;re free of encumbrances like kids and mortgages, and it can feel pretty great to bust your balls doing something you enjoy.<p>But let&#x27;s not forget that it also feels great busting your balls actually enjoying yourself properly, too. When you&#x27;re in your 20&#x27;s that can be sex or travelling or socialising or a million other things.<p>As a whole though, the ethic of &quot;gotta work hard all through your life&quot; troubles me. There aren&#x27;t enough spaces for creativity, relaxation, debate, books, or simply doing nothing.<p>It&#x27;s these things that make a life worth living, not (just) some meteoric rise through a career.