Thread by @Camp4

🏔️The Myth of Accomplishment

This morning I read a tweet that contained a stern warning for young people:

“If you focus on work-life balance, you won’t reach the top of any discipline.”

Don't buy it—this statement is a false dichotomy, a trap. Here's why...

🧵👇

Firstly, I hate the term “work-life balance” because it implies that life is a zero sum game—that to be great at one thing you have to suck at another. That you can have either career ambition or a healthy, multi-dimensional life but not both.

Ironically, those with the most “balanced” lives don’t use that term—because they don’t seek balance, they seek to kick ass at everything. It's a pursuit, not a state of being.

Beware of those who use that term (esp in critical way) because they aren’t the ones to emulate.

It’s an age old myth that won't die:

That winning at life means focusing on one thing—usually our career—at the exclusion of everything else. Then "someday" when we reach he “top” we can begin building a healthy, multi-dimensional life.

Millions of wealthy but miserable business executives would tell that you life doesn’t work that way.

🚨Warning: Here comes the inevitable @camp4 climbing reference...

Life is like mountain climbing—when you reach a summit you’ll find… nothing.

A life focused on summits is a life of constant disappointment. It turns out that “being on top” has nothing to do with the summit and everything to do with how you get there.

🤔We tend to organize our lives around the myth of accomplishment but the sublime is found in the mundane, the here and now.

What if we expanded our goal from “reaching the top of our discipline” to something more ambitious:

🏆Building a great multi-dimensional life that can be savored every day.

The “top” of that discipline might look something like this:

🪓 Challenging work that is impactful & fulfilling
💰 Enough money to own your calendar
👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Ever-present for family & friends
🧑‍🎓Constant learning & memorable experiences
🏋️‍♂️ An exceptional level of fitness
🎨 At least one passionate pursuit outside of work

To be clear, this isn't the easy path that people imply when they talk about "work-life balance".

This is the hard path, a summit that is unreachable by design.

You’re creating conflicts and competition for your time & energy. It rarely feels balanced...

...but paradoxically it tends to result in more achievement—and more importantly, more happiness.

Because this old saying is more than a cliche:

The journey is the reward.

🤙

P.S. It’s worth noting that to be the *very best* in a field—the proverbial Michael Jordan—does require a singular, obsessive focus. But that’s not the right path for 99% of us & Elon Musk has said it’s a tormented existence.