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I tend to work as little as possible. Playing is important. Family is important. Living is important. Might be dead tomorrow and would be thoroughly miffed
by chrisjsmith 15y ago
I tend to work as little as possible. Playing is important. Family is important. Living is important.
Might be dead tomorrow and would be thoroughly miffed if I'd worked through my life. I believe life is the reward and must be lived, not some religious fantasy.
- yhlasx 15y agoThis reminds me of Steve Jobs's speech at Stanford.
- chrisjsmith 15y agoHe has first hand experience of nearly being dead so it's pertinent.
- jodrellblank 15y agoYou should be thoroughly miffed that you are writing off all the time you spend working as "not my life".
- notJim 15y agoI can't speak for chrisjsmith, but I have a similar attitude to his. In my case, I regard my work as just one part of my life. Even if you work 8 hours a day, that's already half of your waking time[1] on just one activity. I love my work, and value the time I spend doing it, but it already dominates everything else, so I don't especially desire to increase the amount of it I do. [1]: In actuality, few people probably sleep 8 hours/night, and I didn't account for weekends, but I think my point is still roughly accurate.
- chrisjsmith 15y agoIt isn't really my life if I'm a participant in a system which supports others who either a) actively do not work and exist only to be supported -or- b) exploit others only for personal gain. It would be my life if I actively improved the human condition and directly provided for my family. I'd be happy with (and I will eventually have!) a few hectares of acres of land to be honest as I could do the above with that. Then I can get back to solving problems rather than filling timesheets which is after all the best way of helping people.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- jodrellblank 15y agoIt is your life even if people you don't like benefit from it. How cliched is the "I'm unhappy now, but at some future time when XYZ, then I'll be happy (but not until then!)"? That's pretty much what I meant.
- potatolicious 15y agoI would be thoroughly miffed if all there was to my life was my work. I love this industry and what I do - but I would have some severe regrets if I died and that was my only major accomplishment. Life is far too grand, far too complex, to be spent just coding.
- mattgreenrocks 15y ago> Life is far too grand, far too complex, to be spent just coding. Much wisdom here. The workaholic personality type can be prone to overworking in order to compensate for other areas of life that aren't quite going their way. I've been that person, but I don't plan on returning to it. In these cases, its much more fruitful to fix the problem than it is to mask it. It just happens that working too much is socially-approved escapism.
- pspeter3 15y agoI agree with you
- mikeleeorg 15y agoI totally hear ya. I always lived my life as if each day is my last. Although for me, work is important too - though I see it less as "work" and more as a passion or calling.
- chrisjsmith 15y agoI've noticed that the points on this post go up during "european awake hours" and down during "American awake hours". I think there is definitely a work ethic divide there. (I am in the UK for reference).