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I have a friend who is a Market Maker on Wall St. He's very successful makes a lot of money, works very long, but he has a very low self esteem. He tells me "I

I have a friend who is a Market Maker on Wall St. He's very successful makes a lot of money, works very long, but he has a very low self esteem. He tells me "I don't know how to actually do anything of any use in the world." I don't really understand him but I think he ends up feeling like his life is worthless. At the end of the day he could be as rich as Midas but he hasn't figured out what life is worth even to himself. Assuming your belly is full, I think if you're not curing cancer or something like that you'd better be doing something that makes you happy: the work itself has to be fun. Otherwise you could end up like this guy or my friend.

Mikeb85 11y ago
The funny thing is, when it boils down to it, many jobs in our society are superfluous... We survived without technology, with a less-developed finance sector, without cars and airplanes, yet here we are with entire sectors of the economy that probably aren't 'needed' for a happy life. At least in finance you can get to a number where you can finally say 'fuck it', and go do what you really want to do...
- copperx 11y ago
  I can't help it but comment on how much posts regarding work/life balance focus on optimizing for happiness, but rare is the article that mentions how important is finding meaning in one's work to leading a fulfilling life. I would argue, for example, that finding meaning as a grunt or even as a big fish in the financial sector is harder than say, being a doctor. It's much easier to work long hours as a doctor and feel content when you see that your work has direct impact. All of this is obvious, but I rarely see it mentioned. We should optimize for meaning in our work, not happiness.
  - eanzenberg 11y ago
    It's more then that.. it's about perception (how you spin things). For example, you could look at american doctors and say they mainly work on patients of self-inflicted diseases such as heart disease, obesity, etc. Then you could look at finance sector workers and see how they help people get jobs, loans and move the economy forward which leads to furthering humanity's progress and capabilities.
- tsotha 11y ago
  Yeah, you can get to the number. The problem is by that time your health will be wrecked, so you won't ever actually get to do what you want to do. Long ago I traveled to Puerto Rico on business. One of the locals was a refugee from just such a Wall Street job. He had his first heart attack in his early 40s, and a decade later when I knew him it seemed as if all he needed was a loud noise to send him to his final reward. He had come back to PR to be with family, both because he needed help and because that's what you do when your mortality stares you in the face. Doesn't seem worth it to me. When he was young he worked around the clock - he said some days the only sleep he'd get was the 20 minute cat nap on the toilet at work. When I knew him he had plenty of money but couldn't walk a quarter mile down the street without stopping to rest. What's the point?
- erostrate 11y ago
  >At least in finance you can get to a number where you can finally say 'fuck it', and go do what you really want to do... I recently quit my job. I was working for a large investment bank. Many people talk about leaving to do what they really want to do, something interesting that they can be proud of. Very, very few actually do it. Turns out no amount of money is ever 'enough'. Turns out adjusting your lifestyle from 400k$ to 100k$ is not so easy. This golden cage phenomenon is well described here: http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/can-buy-me-love.html http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/can-buy-me-...

Mikeb85 11y ago

The funny thing is, when it boils down to it, many jobs in our society are superfluous... We survived without technology, with a less-developed finance sector, without cars and airplanes, yet here we are with entire sectors of the economy that probably aren't 'needed' for a happy life. At least in finance you can get to a number where you can finally say 'fuck it', and go do what you really want to do...

copperx 11y ago
I can't help it but comment on how much posts regarding work/life balance focus on optimizing for happiness, but rare is the article that mentions how important is finding meaning in one's work to leading a fulfilling life. I would argue, for example, that finding meaning as a grunt or even as a big fish in the financial sector is harder than say, being a doctor. It's much easier to work long hours as a doctor and feel content when you see that your work has direct impact. All of this is obvious, but I rarely see it mentioned. We should optimize for meaning in our work, not happiness.
- eanzenberg 11y ago
  It's more then that.. it's about perception (how you spin things). For example, you could look at american doctors and say they mainly work on patients of self-inflicted diseases such as heart disease, obesity, etc. Then you could look at finance sector workers and see how they help people get jobs, loans and move the economy forward which leads to furthering humanity's progress and capabilities.
tsotha 11y ago
Yeah, you can get to the number. The problem is by that time your health will be wrecked, so you won't ever actually get to do what you want to do. Long ago I traveled to Puerto Rico on business. One of the locals was a refugee from just such a Wall Street job. He had his first heart attack in his early 40s, and a decade later when I knew him it seemed as if all he needed was a loud noise to send him to his final reward. He had come back to PR to be with family, both because he needed help and because that's what you do when your mortality stares you in the face. Doesn't seem worth it to me. When he was young he worked around the clock - he said some days the only sleep he'd get was the 20 minute cat nap on the toilet at work. When I knew him he had plenty of money but couldn't walk a quarter mile down the street without stopping to rest. What's the point?
erostrate 11y ago
>At least in finance you can get to a number where you can finally say 'fuck it', and go do what you really want to do... I recently quit my job. I was working for a large investment bank. Many people talk about leaving to do what they really want to do, something interesting that they can be proud of. Very, very few actually do it. Turns out no amount of money is ever 'enough'. Turns out adjusting your lifestyle from 400k$ to 100k$ is not so easy. This golden cage phenomenon is well described here: http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/can-buy-me-love.html http://epicureandealmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/can-buy-me-...