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I have a four month old daughter. My job takes eight hours, almost two hours more for the commute, at least an hour each day for cooking and meal prep, six hour

I have a four month old daughter. My job takes eight hours, almost two hours more for the commute, at least an hour each day for cooking and meal prep, six hours for sleep, and the rest is taken up with the baby. I get some work done on weekends or in the middle of the night but it's not enough. I recently negotiated with work to drop down to four days a week. They refused to let me do three days a week for the worst reason: my coworkers depend on me too much, so they need my butt in the chair. I tried it for a bit, but it's still nowhere near enough time to bootstrap my side project. So I decided to quit. I'll burn savings for a bit while I try to prove out my idea. My wife knows she married a starving artist. I feel a lot older than I wanted to be when starting a family, but we're getting old enough that we don't have the luxury of putting it off any longer. I don't know if I'll ever be able to afford a house. Am I failing your level zero test? Not everyone is a 21 year old college graduate with zero expenses or obligations. Saying it's just the "sorriest excuse for an excuse" and "you don't have what it takes" is just insulting. Real people have real time commitments in the real world.

csomar 7y ago
Just a shot in the dark. But how hard would it be to reduce your commute to practically 0? How hard would it be to convince your co-workers/manager of working remote?
mathgladiator 7y ago
People make different choices, and then they have to live with the consequences. I agree that not having time is a sorry excuse because it ignores that people made decisions on how to spend their time.
Enginerrrd 7y ago
For what it's worth, I did launch a side-project into a full-time company the same year my first kid was born. I would contend that if you have difficulty managing all the competing interests in your life between work family and side-projects now, it will not likely improve when you launch your former side project into a full time gig. Elon Musk is notorious for not taking vacations and sleeping on the factory floor when exciting shit is going down. His partner knows this and is ok with that. If yours isn't, then frankly, yeah it's going to be a major uphill battle and stressor on your relationship to try and pull that off. It's totally ok to not be in a position to do this. In fact, it's arguably a healthier way of living. But it may still be an indication of failing that level zero test because you just aren't into it enough. Business is not the make-a-wish foundation.

csomar 7y ago

Just a shot in the dark. But how hard would it be to reduce your commute to practically 0? How hard would it be to convince your co-workers/manager of working remote?

mathgladiator 7y ago

People make different choices, and then they have to live with the consequences. I agree that not having time is a sorry excuse because it ignores that people made decisions on how to spend their time.

Enginerrrd 7y ago

For what it's worth, I did launch a side-project into a full-time company the same year my first kid was born. I would contend that if you have difficulty managing all the competing interests in your life between work family and side-projects now, it will not likely improve when you launch your former side project into a full time gig. Elon Musk is notorious for not taking vacations and sleeping on the factory floor when exciting shit is going down. His partner knows this and is ok with that. If yours isn't, then frankly, yeah it's going to be a major uphill battle and stressor on your relationship to try and pull that off. It's totally ok to not be in a position to do this. In fact, it's arguably a healthier way of living. But it may still be an indication of failing that level zero test because you just aren't into it enough. Business is not the make-a-wish foundation.