"Work-life balance" is advice from people who've already made it telling young people to optimize for comfort while they're supposed to be optimizing for growth.
I'm 17, running a startup, and I work 60ish hour weeks. Not because I have to. Because I want to. Because this is literally what I want to do with my life right now.
And every time I mention this, someone older tells me I need "balance." That I'll burn out. That I'm being irresponsible.
Here's what they don't understand: balance is a luxury you earn by working unbalanced first.
The balance myth
"Work-life balance" assumes work and life are separate. That work is the bad thing you have to do, and life is the good thing you're trying to protect from work.
That framing makes sense if you hate your job. If you're trading time for money in a role you don't care about, then yes, minimize that and maximize the "life" part.
But if you're building something you actually care about? Work isn't separate from life. Work IS life. It's the thing you think about when you wake up. The thing you're excited to do. The thing that feels like progress.
When people tell me to "take a break" or "don't forget to have fun," they're projecting their relationship with work onto me. They assume I'm grinding through something unpleasant.
I'm not. I'm building something I actually want to exist. The work is the fun part.
The age factor nobody mentions
Work-life balance makes sense when you're 35 with a family, a mortgage, and responsibilities.
It makes zero sense when you're 17-25 with no kids, no mortgage, and infinite energy.
This is the time when you can work 80 hours a week without sacrificing anything important. Your body can handle it. Your schedule allows it. Your responsibilities are minimal.
Yet this is exactly when people tell you to "pace yourself" and "don't burn out."
It's backwards. The time to work unbalanced is when the cost is lowest. Then, when you've built something, you can afford balance.
But most people do the opposite. They optimize for balance when they're young and should be grinding. Then they try to grind when they're older and have responsibilities, and it's way harder.
What "burnout" actually means
When people warn about burnout, they usually mean one of two things:
1. Working hard on something you don't care about. That actually is unsustainable. If you hate what you're doing, working 80 hours a week will destroy you.
2. Working hard without seeing progress. If you're grinding but nothing's working, that's legitimately demoralizing.
But if you're working on something you care about and you're seeing progress? That's not burnout. That's momentum.
I've had weeks where I worked 90 hours on Nexus. I wasn't burned out. I was energized. Because I was shipping, getting users, seeing things work.
The tiredness you feel from hard work on something meaningful is completely different from the exhaustion you feel from meaningless work.
The advice comes from the wrong people
Who tells you to "maintain work-life balance"?
Usually: people who chose careers with built-in balance. Teachers, corporate employees, people in structured jobs with set hours.
Not: founders who built something significant. Athletes who competed at the highest level. Artists who created something that mattered.
The people who actually achieved outlier success will tell you: there was a period where they were completely imbalanced. Where work consumed everything. Where they had no "life" outside of building.
Then, after they succeeded, they could afford balance.
But the early years? Unbalanced. Obsessive. All-consuming.
That's not tragic. That's how things get built.
The opportunity cost
Every hour I spend "balancing my life" is an hour I'm not:
Shipping features
Talking to users
Learning new technical skills
Building something that might actually matter
When you're young, your opportunity cost is building. Not "experiencing life" or "being well-rounded" or whatever other euphemism people use for not working hard.
You can experience life later. You can be well-rounded later. Right now, you have energy and time that you'll never have again.
Spending that on "balance" is just spending it on mediocrity.
When balance actually matters
I'm not saying balance never matters. It does. Eventually.
When you have:
Kids who need you
Health issues that require management
Built something that can run without you working 80 hours
Responsibilities to other people
Then balance makes sense. You've earned it. And you need it to sustain what you built.
But if you're 20, single, healthy, and working on something you care about? "Balance" is just an excuse to not go as hard as you could.
The real fear
When people warn you about working too hard, they're usually projecting their own regrets.
They spent their 20s optimizing for balance. They played it safe. They had fun. They were "well-rounded."
And now they're 35, stuck in a job they don't love, wishing they'd worked harder when they had the chance.
So they give you the advice that makes them feel better about their choices: "Don't work too hard. Enjoy your youth. Balance is important."
But they're not trying to help you. They're trying to justify their own decisions.
What actually matters
Here's what I've learned: the question isn't "how do I balance work and life?"
The question is: "Am I working on something that energizes me or drains me?"
If it drains you, work less. That's not balance. That's self-preservation.
If it energizes you, work more. That's not imbalance. That's momentum.
The people who tell you to "slow down" when you're building something you love don't understand what it feels like to actually care about your work.
And you shouldn't let their mediocrity limit your intensity.
— Arjun