Strong commitments, loosely held

Meaningful progress demands both grit and grace.

Strong opinions, loosely held.

Paul Saffo

Meaningful progress in worthwhile pursuits requires determination, grit, and sacrifice.

It’s hard to do anything important without sacrifice but more sacrifice does not create more progress. Suffering for suffering’s sake will not move the needle forward.

Instead, we need to balance our hustle with humility. A forgiving and gracious attitude when we make a mistake or step away from one pursuit to focus on another is a necessary counterbalance to the determination required to do great work.

We must be relentlessly focused and willing to make non-trivial sacrifices to move our lives forward, but we shouldn’t beat ourselves up when we choose to enjoy parts of lives that don’t move us closer to our goals.

All or nothing

This tug of war between unwavering hustle and work-life balance has become a heated debate in the tech world, as startup founders have shared an approach to work they call “996”.

996 refers to working from 9am to 9pm 6 days a week. Founders have adopted this schedule as a competitive advantage to keep up with the fast pace of AI advancements. Unsurprisingly, this trend alongside others like “Founder Mode” and “The Great Lock In” have generated a lot of buzz online, with opinions on both sides of such an intense commitment to work.

Those in support believe it’s the only way to succeed and build a truly impactful company. Plenty of others believe long hours and a singular focus not only neglect important aspects of life, but also make it harder to create great work.

996 isn’t inherently good or bad. It depends on what we value.

If we’re trying to build the next unicorn and willing to sacrifice in other areas of our lives, then 996 is probably the best way to do that.

If we care deeply about our family, friends, hobbies, and other areas of our lives outside of work, then 996 is a terrible approach to living a fulfilling life.

Most of us are not striving to create billion dollar companies, become professional athletes, or world-renowned artists so learning to balance our lives is far more valuable than superhuman determination.

The wisdom of balance

For those of us striving to become a bit better each day, the hardest part of making progress isn’t working hard. The biggest challenge is learning to pull ourselves away from hard work.

It’s easy to feel guilty when we leave work early, enjoy a nice meal, watch TV, or skip a workout. None of these things are productive or move us closer toward the goals we’ve set for ourselves, but they are important nonetheless.

Discipline and sacrifice are necessary to make meaningful progress in our lives, but humility and grace are necessary to enjoy what we’ve worked so hard to achieve.

Prompts

1. Does the level of commitment you have for each pursuit in your life match the outcomes you’re chasing?

2. How can you carve out time in the upcoming week to step away from the hard work you’ve invested to enjoy the fruits of your labor?

3. What have you avoided doing because it feels too self-indulgent?

Deep Dive

• 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

  • Time management for mere mortals.

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Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Sunday.

Kevin