I imagine that if you have to work more than a sustainable pace to achieve a role, that it can be difficult to return to a sustainable pace and feel that you ar

I imagine that if you have to work more than a sustainable pace to achieve a role, that it can be difficult to return to a sustainable pace and feel that you are "giving" the same. So, there is this self-imposed pressure to continue your behavior. Even if the entire time one convinced themselves that the plan was to "get to the top and give 90%", it's probably hard to suddenly change. At least, this is my experience as a 35 year old who worked a lot, telling myself that the delayed pleasure was the right thing. Now, (sometimes) I genuinely do not enjoy "fun" things as much because I have conditioned myself to not enjoy it. Suppose then, in that whole "life has many buckets" idea, you have some control over bucket size. Perhaps it is learned and intentional.