4 ms·

'Work-Life Balance' Will Keep You Mediocre

5 points by impish9208 1y ago

lbrito 1y ago
>For financial freedom by age 30, optimize ruthlessly during your peak physical and cognitive years. _If_ you get to 30 in the first place - and in good health. Ah, the moronic bravado of the young!
impish9208 1y ago
Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/work-life-balance-will-keep-you-mediocre-25bdf073?st=CccmVV https://www.wsj.com/opinion/work-life-balance-will-keep-you-... To clarify, I posted this because it’s interesting enough for its stupidity, not because I agree with it. Also note that it’s a commentary article in the opinions section — not an actual news article.
bigbuppo 1y ago
And that's bad? The average person is pretty darned average.
- downrightmike 1y ago
  Hey, don't go bringing stats into this!
  - fuzzfactor 1y ago
    That's what I was thinking, anybody can achieve mediocrity if they work at it hard enough :)
techpineapple 1y ago
I’m not a religious person, but sometimes I wonder if the downfall of religion in society really fucked some people up. Where happened to our values? What happened to family, and being involved in your community. Now I’m a failure if I haven’t built 2 companies by the age of thirty?
- quantified 1y ago
  Religion has fucked those values. Have you seen any televangelists or megachurch preachers? Look at the grifters around the White House.
  - sojournerc 1y ago
    Televangelists should not be your gauge of all religion or religious people
    - quantified 1y ago
      I think I'm safe from that. Islam is dominated by other types, and Buddhist, Shinto, Hindu do not have ones I know of. (They might. I don't know) However, the televangelists are the influential ones, guiding the USA executive and legislative branches for a long time (hello Moral Majority).
      - sojournerc 1y ago
        Not sure where you're from but those types really are the minority (very small) of American Christians.
- rogerkirkness 1y ago
  Yeah I agree, there is a total absence of values from silicon valley at this point. It is no different from 1980s wall street basically.
  - quantified 1y ago
    Possibly more money, more concentrated money?
- King-Aaron 1y ago
  People broadly do still learn and hold good values, for the most part. I would wager an upbringing on Star Trek will give you a far better moral compass than ANY religion would. Unfortunately what you're identifying here is the effects of unchained capitalism which demands more and more while returning less and less, as it's core function. It is fundamentally unsustainable and the effects you're highlighting here (fracturing of family, fracturing of community) is the result of that pressure.
codingdave 1y ago
Cool. A happy mediocre life is better than living as a burned out husk.
- JohnFen 1y ago
  Between the two, the happy life is the exceptional one.
quantified 1y ago
Optimize for what you need, I guess. Financial freedom is nice. So are friends who aren't just all about the money, family relationships, etc. In the WSJ, money and ownership is all there is. Don't forget that working all the time is no guarantee of financial success, ask any agricultural worker.
King-Aaron 1y ago
"financial freedom by 30" is such a freaking slim chance for such a tiny, tiny percentage of people. It feels like this generation's "study hard and you can be whatever you want" trope.
- downrightmike 1y ago
  I heard everyone should learn to code!
fennec-posix 1y ago
"Mediocre" by what standard I ask. Wealth? Maybe. Happiness/Life Satisfaction? Not all roses, but hardly.
- AnimalMuppet 1y ago
  "What is the measure of your success?" - Steve Taylor In fact, because it's on topic, here's the full lyrics: https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/ucoowl/what_is_the_measure_of_your_success/ https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/ucoowl/wha... People are seeing that that version of "success" isn't worth your whole life. They're deciding to not chase it. That may not fit with the WSJ's version of the world, but from where I sit, it looks more like wisdom.
AnimalMuppet 1y ago
Absence of work-life balance can burn you out to the point where mediocre would be a step up. But even if it doesn't... "Money is like gasoline while driving across country on a road trip. You never want to run out, but the point of life is not to go on a tour of gas stations." - Tim O’Reilly.
BLKNSLVR 1y ago
(Haven't read the article, and probably won't given impish9208's reasoning for posting) The terminology "Work-Life Balance" gives too much importance to work. It should be "Life Balance" in which there is at least a handful of mostly-unrelated things that should be maintained in order to achieve balance in one's life. I've said in a past comment or two about having enough "things" going on in one's life that, if one or two are going badly, then one of the others can be 'retreated to' for comfort or solace or distraction. Decentralised happiness. I'm happily mediocre. I'm mediocre across a number of things, but the sum total of all the mediocres is, I think, great. Focus too much on one thing, build your entire self-worth upon it, and one mistake, not even in your own control, could be like a horse breaking a leg in a race. Life balance, work should be but one leg of four or five. (There is more nuance to this, but I think on the whole it's more right than wrong)
Finnucane 1y ago
"I plan to become a billionaire by age 30. Then I will have the time and resources to tackle problems close to my heart like climate change, species extinction and economic inequality. " "I will spend the first part of my life excelling in the very practices that cause the problems that I will solve in the second part of my life."
- fennec-posix 1y ago
  yeah, that's what my line of thinking was reading this part. Though with a lot more stuff I cannot add here at risk of being banned :D
- quantified 1y ago
  I will not put that vow into any legally enforceable document, as I reserve the right to change my mind and spend it on only the most worthy people (me and my entourage).
rhelz 1y ago
Mediocre at what?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
Millennium 1y ago
Yes, we already know techbros are trying to normalize workaholism within the general populace.
begemotz 1y ago
I figured this would show up on HN. I'm really puzzled why the WSJ would publish this as an 'editorial'. But here is my cynical take -- companies want you to buy into the hustle at 20 so they can exploit you until 30 and spit you out for the next generation of gullible workers. "There’s no sugarcoating the mental-health struggles, the physical deterioration or the social isolation that came with this intensity...I plan to become a billionaire by age 30. Then I will have the time and resources to tackle problems close to my heart like climate change, species extinction and economic inequality." I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious, but *golly* -- the simple, unaware naivete of youth! First, the assumption that he will become a billionaire, second the assumption that he will live long enough to then turn to the things 'close to his heart'. This really does seem like he is trying to convince himself that all the struggles he outlines above is "worth it". In all honesty, I hope he makes it and I hope that, in 40 years, he writes another "editorial" that reads "It was worth it".

5 points by impish9208 1y ago

>For financial freedom by age 30, optimize ruthlessly during your peak physical and cognitive years. _If_ you get to 30 in the first place - and in good health. Ah, the moronic bravado of the young!

impish9208 1y ago

Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/work-life-balance-will-keep-you-mediocre-25bdf073?st=CccmVV https://www.wsj.com/opinion/work-life-balance-will-keep-you-... To clarify, I posted this because it’s interesting enough for its stupidity, not because I agree with it. Also note that it’s a commentary article in the opinions section — not an actual news article.

bigbuppo 1y ago

And that's bad? The average person is pretty darned average.

downrightmike 1y ago
Hey, don't go bringing stats into this!
- fuzzfactor 1y ago
  That's what I was thinking, anybody can achieve mediocrity if they work at it hard enough :)

techpineapple 1y ago

I’m not a religious person, but sometimes I wonder if the downfall of religion in society really fucked some people up. Where happened to our values? What happened to family, and being involved in your community. Now I’m a failure if I haven’t built 2 companies by the age of thirty?

quantified 1y ago
Religion has fucked those values. Have you seen any televangelists or megachurch preachers? Look at the grifters around the White House.
- sojournerc 1y ago
  Televangelists should not be your gauge of all religion or religious people
  - quantified 1y ago
    I think I'm safe from that. Islam is dominated by other types, and Buddhist, Shinto, Hindu do not have ones I know of. (They might. I don't know) However, the televangelists are the influential ones, guiding the USA executive and legislative branches for a long time (hello Moral Majority).
    - sojournerc 1y ago
      Not sure where you're from but those types really are the minority (very small) of American Christians.
rogerkirkness 1y ago
Yeah I agree, there is a total absence of values from silicon valley at this point. It is no different from 1980s wall street basically.
- quantified 1y ago
  Possibly more money, more concentrated money?
King-Aaron 1y ago
People broadly do still learn and hold good values, for the most part. I would wager an upbringing on Star Trek will give you a far better moral compass than ANY religion would. Unfortunately what you're identifying here is the effects of unchained capitalism which demands more and more while returning less and less, as it's core function. It is fundamentally unsustainable and the effects you're highlighting here (fracturing of family, fracturing of community) is the result of that pressure.

codingdave 1y ago

Cool. A happy mediocre life is better than living as a burned out husk.

JohnFen 1y ago
Between the two, the happy life is the exceptional one.

quantified 1y ago

Optimize for what you need, I guess. Financial freedom is nice. So are friends who aren't just all about the money, family relationships, etc. In the WSJ, money and ownership is all there is. Don't forget that working all the time is no guarantee of financial success, ask any agricultural worker.

King-Aaron 1y ago

"financial freedom by 30" is such a freaking slim chance for such a tiny, tiny percentage of people. It feels like this generation's "study hard and you can be whatever you want" trope.

downrightmike 1y ago
I heard everyone should learn to code!

fennec-posix 1y ago

"Mediocre" by what standard I ask. Wealth? Maybe. Happiness/Life Satisfaction? Not all roses, but hardly.

AnimalMuppet 1y ago
"What is the measure of your success?" - Steve Taylor In fact, because it's on topic, here's the full lyrics: https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/ucoowl/what_is_the_measure_of_your_success/ https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/ucoowl/wha... People are seeing that that version of "success" isn't worth your whole life. They're deciding to not chase it. That may not fit with the WSJ's version of the world, but from where I sit, it looks more like wisdom.

AnimalMuppet 1y ago

Absence of work-life balance can burn you out to the point where mediocre would be a step up. But even if it doesn't... "Money is like gasoline while driving across country on a road trip. You never want to run out, but the point of life is not to go on a tour of gas stations." - Tim O’Reilly.

BLKNSLVR 1y ago

(Haven't read the article, and probably won't given impish9208's reasoning for posting) The terminology "Work-Life Balance" gives too much importance to work. It should be "Life Balance" in which there is at least a handful of mostly-unrelated things that should be maintained in order to achieve balance in one's life. I've said in a past comment or two about having enough "things" going on in one's life that, if one or two are going badly, then one of the others can be 'retreated to' for comfort or solace or distraction. Decentralised happiness. I'm happily mediocre. I'm mediocre across a number of things, but the sum total of all the mediocres is, I think, great. Focus too much on one thing, build your entire self-worth upon it, and one mistake, not even in your own control, could be like a horse breaking a leg in a race. Life balance, work should be but one leg of four or five. (There is more nuance to this, but I think on the whole it's more right than wrong)

Finnucane 1y ago

"I plan to become a billionaire by age 30. Then I will have the time and resources to tackle problems close to my heart like climate change, species extinction and economic inequality. " "I will spend the first part of my life excelling in the very practices that cause the problems that I will solve in the second part of my life."

fennec-posix 1y ago
yeah, that's what my line of thinking was reading this part. Though with a lot more stuff I cannot add here at risk of being banned :D
quantified 1y ago
I will not put that vow into any legally enforceable document, as I reserve the right to change my mind and spend it on only the most worthy people (me and my entourage).

rhelz 1y ago

Mediocre at what?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

Millennium 1y ago

Yes, we already know techbros are trying to normalize workaholism within the general populace.

begemotz 1y ago

I figured this would show up on HN. I'm really puzzled why the WSJ would publish this as an 'editorial'. But here is my cynical take -- companies want you to buy into the hustle at 20 so they can exploit you until 30 and spit you out for the next generation of gullible workers. "There’s no sugarcoating the mental-health struggles, the physical deterioration or the social isolation that came with this intensity...I plan to become a billionaire by age 30. Then I will have the time and resources to tackle problems close to my heart like climate change, species extinction and economic inequality." I hope this doesn't come across as obnoxious, but *golly* -- the simple, unaware naivete of youth! First, the assumption that he will become a billionaire, second the assumption that he will live long enough to then turn to the things 'close to his heart'. This really does seem like he is trying to convince himself that all the struggles he outlines above is "worth it". In all honesty, I hope he makes it and I hope that, in 40 years, he writes another "editorial" that reads "It was worth it".