I find myself always struggling between being ambitious and being happy.
Ideally I'd like to be both. But when one gets on the "ambitious" treadmill, capitalism wants one to work 24/7/365. Your competition is showing off how they worked until 4am, worked through the holidays, launched products on Sunday, and slept in the office, as "dedication". That culture makes me unhappy because I lose my physical health and mental health doing that. I'm happy and do my best work when I can go home, cook creative dinners, enjoy company of my partner, and enjoy the sunrises and sunsets in the mountains on the weekends.
> how they worked until 4am, worked through the holidays, launched products on Sunday, and slept in the office,
I've worked at companies that did stuff like that, and they failed. It's not sustainable and doesn't lead to success. And yes, capitalism took care of correcting that, because competitors who didn't do those things are still around.
Hm. It's still quite common though. Politics aside, Elon Musk, Jetson Huang, Sam Altman all have successful projects in terms of ambition and impact on the world. They don't spend their weekends in the mountains. They probably hire cleaners and cooks to deal with their food. They probably spend very little time with their partners. They have probably not taken a real 2+ week vacation in ages.
I'm perfectly okay with technological progress happening 50% slower than it is. I'm fine with launching an ambitious, groundbreaking technical project next year instead of this year. I'd be happy launching something that ambitious while enjoying every step along the way and having fun.
Capitalism is the one that isn't okay with that approach.
Ideally I'd like to be both. But when one gets on the "ambitious" treadmill, capitalism wants one to work 24/7/365. Your competition is showing off how they worked until 4am, worked through the holidays, launched products on Sunday, and slept in the office, as "dedication". That culture makes me unhappy because I lose my physical health and mental health doing that. I'm happy and do my best work when I can go home, cook creative dinners, enjoy company of my partner, and enjoy the sunrises and sunsets in the mountains on the weekends.