

The Cult of 'Killing It' - jasontraff
http://459pm.com/the-cult-of-killing-it

======
_sentient
If you have to consistently work 100 hour weeks for your startup to survive,
you probably have bigger-picture problems that need addressing.

It's normal for there to be occasions where you need to put your head down and
hustle, but this shouldn't be the persistent standard. People are most
productive (and happy) when they live a largely balanced life, punctuated by
brief stretches of high-gear hustle.

------
bcrescimanno
I've stopped talking about "Work-life balance" and started speaking almost
exclusively to my employees and peers in terms of "sustainability." I've found
that work-life balance carries negative connotations and speaks to an end, not
a means. I'm glad to see the terminology shared elsewhere.

Completely agree with this article; especially on the point about a small-
startup being unable to "out-work" a larger company.

~~~
jbish
Sustainability sounds better to me personally. I think we all have our own
tolerance levels when it comes to how many hours we can dedicate to "work" vs.
"life" and still be happy. That term seems a bit more appropriate than the
common "work/life balance".

------
birken
Look, I agree with a lot of what you have said, but at the same time it is a
little unfair to paint this as some universal truth.

> There is nothing noble about being willing to sacrifice everything for
> success.

Maybe not to you, but many people find nobility in success. For example, I
recently watched the "When we left earth" [1] series about the intense NASA
effort to put a person on the moon. There was quite a bit of sacrifice
involved for many many years towards one single goal, but damn if the people
involved didn't take a great amount of pride in their accomplishment
afterwards. Building a startup might not be putting a person on the moon, but
it sure can feel like that when you are involved in it.

> Remember, the road is long and you’re going to be on that grind for a long
> time

I compare my career in startup-land vs friends and relatives in careers that
are actually a grind (try politics), and I will tell you how many of them
would love the opportunity to work much harder to compress the timelines of
their careers, but they can't.

I'm not saying that having a sustainable culture of the proper amount of work
isn't good, I think it is. But if somebody is working 80 hours a week for
something they believe in, I say good for them! Maybe they like it, maybe they
have fewer responsibilities, maybe they genetically need less sleep than
everybody else. Who knows. But I certainly don't assume they are making a bad
decision because it isn't one that I would make.

1:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Left_Earth:_The_NASA_Mi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_We_Left_Earth:_The_NASA_Missions)

~~~
yongjik
In scale of awesomeness, 99.9% of silicon valley is closer to "Goldman Sachs"
than "The Apollo Project" (if not below both). If a Goldman Sachs analyst
spends his Christmas eve looking at charts, claiming he's furthering the
wealth of mankind, you'd probably laugh.

~~~
SamReidHughes
It is not true that 99.9% of Silicon Valley is not furthering the wealth of
mankind. Making products that are useful to people, in fact, _does_ further
the wealth of mankind.

~~~
w4
Sure, just like the Goldman Sachs analyst _does_ generate liquidity.

Ok, ok, cheap shot. But come on, here: the average product created by a
Silicon Valley startup barely reaches the threshold you've set (usefulness),
never mind the more widely agreed upon definition of "furthering the wealth of
mankind" (contributing to a substantial improvement in the human condition or
knowledge).

~~~
SamReidHughes
Okay, but even if 50% or more of startups don't actually succeed in being
useful to people, by failing, they still aren't trying to be whatever you deem
Goldman Sachs to be -- they are (many of them are) attempting to make
something useful.

(I also think Goldman Sachs does useful things too, like buying commodities
when they're cheap so that they can sell them when they're not cheap, an act
which, if Goldman makes money off the trades, causes certain units of that
commodity to be more used more efficiently.)

------
csbrooks
Pedantic note: They were burgled. To be robbed you have to be there.

~~~
jasontraff
You are correct, and made me smile. Thank you.

------
goblin89
I feel like OP needlessly draws conclusions too far from a single dropped
phrase, which by itself could've been an exaggeration.

Maybe there's some background on the person who said it? If a guy with wife
and kids spends Christmas night in the office, that's different. Otherwise,
well, perhaps someone isn't very sociable or their daily schedule got messed
up. Perhaps they have financial trouble and live at the office, who knows.

> There’s an ethos in the tech community that wisdom is gained through
> suffering, and that if you can suffer more than everyone else, you’ll be the
> wisest.

Perhaps it's OP who's looking at the world still somewhat through this prism.

I was working through last couple of New Year eves. (I work remotely, though.)
Not that I was trying to ‘kill it’, I believe in working smart as opposed to
working hard. Simply had nothing better to do at that particular time. My
schedule periodically slips and I work at nights, but it doesn't mean I work
harder than usual.

------
plink
I particularly liked the juxtaposition of these three sentences:

>Instead, I think it’s much more likely that you’ll become disconnected from
your support network, burnt out from exhaustion and frustration, unable to
inspire your best employees, and ultimately fail. Kinda like I did. :) Even
now, when I look for company’s to invest in...

Is this the kind of failure one experiences when losing at a board game?

