3 ms·

The Myth of Executive Stress

12 points by saurabh 13y ago

orasis 13y ago
This article is bullshit. I have never in my life experienced anything more stressful than running my own software company and being responsible for making payroll.
- lsc 13y ago
  > I have never in my life experienced anything more stressful than running my own software company and being responsible for making payroll. That statement, I think, says more about your background than anything else. Running your own company is stressful, sure. But compare it to a situation that is just as stressful where you don't have control. For me? High school was dramatically worse. And that says a lot about my life experience. That I've never experienced anything worse than high school. I'm certain that anyone who has spent any time, say in jail has had it much worse. Or what about those minimum wage service jobs? that's gotta be pretty bad. I remember the other day in taco bell listening to another customer berate the staff for misspelling his name. I can imagine feeling trapped in one of those jobs. That would be pretty bad. I've never had a job where I didn't feel like I could quit and have a better job within a week. This simply isn't the case for the vast majority of the population; if you work at taco bell, and you get fired? it could be quite some time before someone else gives you a chance. And what about your opportunities for advancement? For me to feel okay about myself, personally, I need to know that I'm 'making progress' - even if you aren't a greedy jerk like me who measures himself with money, I can imagine that the prospect of supporting yourself and your family on near minimum wage- with little hope of improving that would be a lot more stressful than doing the same thing when you have reason to believe that you will be doing better in the future. Or, what about the military? You can literally be shot for walking off the job. You're paid peanuts and can only change commanders with the permission of your superiors. Even before we talk about combat (which I'm not qualified to talk about.) that's gotta be pretty stressful. Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that running a company can be rated 'very stressful' on the scale of general human experiences. You have a lot of control over your situation. I do agree that it can be rated as 'very stressful' on the scale of upper-middle class experiences. But I think that people who run businesses? we are far less likely to fear getting fired. If you have what it takes to run a business, you probably have what it takes to sell yourself to a new employer. The same job is going to be less stressful for us than for most people because we don't fear getting fired like they do.

12 points by saurabh 13y ago

This article is bullshit. I have never in my life experienced anything more stressful than running my own software company and being responsible for making payroll.

lsc 13y ago
> I have never in my life experienced anything more stressful than running my own software company and being responsible for making payroll. That statement, I think, says more about your background than anything else. Running your own company is stressful, sure. But compare it to a situation that is just as stressful where you don't have control. For me? High school was dramatically worse. And that says a lot about my life experience. That I've never experienced anything worse than high school. I'm certain that anyone who has spent any time, say in jail has had it much worse. Or what about those minimum wage service jobs? that's gotta be pretty bad. I remember the other day in taco bell listening to another customer berate the staff for misspelling his name. I can imagine feeling trapped in one of those jobs. That would be pretty bad. I've never had a job where I didn't feel like I could quit and have a better job within a week. This simply isn't the case for the vast majority of the population; if you work at taco bell, and you get fired? it could be quite some time before someone else gives you a chance. And what about your opportunities for advancement? For me to feel okay about myself, personally, I need to know that I'm 'making progress' - even if you aren't a greedy jerk like me who measures himself with money, I can imagine that the prospect of supporting yourself and your family on near minimum wage- with little hope of improving that would be a lot more stressful than doing the same thing when you have reason to believe that you will be doing better in the future. Or, what about the military? You can literally be shot for walking off the job. You're paid peanuts and can only change commanders with the permission of your superiors. Even before we talk about combat (which I'm not qualified to talk about.) that's gotta be pretty stressful. Yeah, I'm not buying the idea that running a company can be rated 'very stressful' on the scale of general human experiences. You have a lot of control over your situation. I do agree that it can be rated as 'very stressful' on the scale of upper-middle class experiences. But I think that people who run businesses? we are far less likely to fear getting fired. If you have what it takes to run a business, you probably have what it takes to sell yourself to a new employer. The same job is going to be less stressful for us than for most people because we don't fear getting fired like they do.