> Has anyone else gone from corporate grinder to zen learner? I'm starting to wonder if industry isn't for me and a more academic setting would be more suitable

> Has anyone else gone from corporate grinder to zen learner? I'm starting to wonder if industry isn't for me and a more academic setting would be more suitable. I am 34 and at a fairly senior position in a corporation, and as such I have the immense luxury to decide how much I effort want to put into my job without being micromanaged. In the past couple of years my priorities changed (wife, chronic illness, old parents, etc.) and I have stopped putting the same amount of overtime that I used to. I was also lucky/happy to be influential enough in my company to institute a 4-day work week for the same pay for me and my team. That has definitely helped with all the other things I wanted to pursue. With the overtime gone and one extra day, I found out that I have more energy, both mental and physical, to be doing other things, like reading books, exercise, spend time with the wife, etc. Work productivity itself also hasn't suffered: I manage to achieve the same things that I did in the past, only without the additional stress. At least for me, it seems if I force myself beyond a certain point, I get only very diminishing returns for my efforts. With that mindset, I could say that I moved from corpo grinder to a rather zen peace of mind without having to switch to a more academic setting. However, I am aware that most corporations don't work like that and there is the pressure to perform or at least to appear to perform by putting in overtime, so what worked for me might not work everywhere.