r/antiwork • u/sixseasonsnmovie • 1d ago
Worklife Balance 🧑💻⚖️🛌 LinkedIn’s cofounder Reid Hoffman says seeking work-life balance is a red flag that you’re ‘not committed to winning’
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u/Administrated 1d ago
I love how it’s always the rich CEO asshole saying that shit!
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u/hybridaaroncarroll 1d ago
Middle management is pretty damned good at parroting it too.
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u/Mechanicalmind 1d ago
Because middle management would love to be in the rich asshole CEO's place, after living for so long with their heads far up the CEO's ass.
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u/1Banana10Dollars 20h ago
Just today, I witnessed my boss having a freakout because a coworker was 5 minutes late to a "mandatory" two hour meeting while said coworker was known to be at a funeral.
Coworker joined the call and drove home from the funeral to get on their laptop.
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u/hybridaaroncarroll 19h ago
We have the saddest work culture in the US. My boss, a genuinely nice person and extremely intelligent, had to help his wife for a few days because she had back surgery. He made sure everyone understood that he would still be available from the hospital (!!) if anyone needed him. Like, just unplug for a bit buddy. We will be ok for a few days without you.
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u/alancousteau 1d ago
Who has jack shit to do all day too
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u/Administrated 1d ago
That’s my point! They get up and have a nice breakfast while reading some news or something, then stroll into the office at 10-10:30. Then around 1 they go to lunch for 2-3 hours. Show back up around 3:30 and have a bullshit meeting. Then at 4:30ish, they are out the door to beat traffic.
Rinse and repeat.
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u/matt_minderbinder 1d ago
They also have people catering to their every need. Their shopping and cooking is done by others. Hired people drive them around, raise their kids, mow their lawn, do their laundry, and pamper them in every way possible.
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u/alancousteau 1d ago
Like that I'd be having a ton of time too to come up with stupid shit like what he said too.
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u/matt_minderbinder 1d ago
The worst are the bootlickers who eat that shit up. I expect ceos to be barely human but way too many of us who struggle hear these monsters and see grind culture shit as desirable. They never consider how rigged the system is against them and no matter how much they grind they'll never be in those positions.
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u/2000TWLV 1d ago
Fuck this guy. Why would anybody do one lick off extra work for some shitty company that will lay you off at the drop off a hat?
Fuck all of 'em.
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u/spaceman757 lazy and proud 1d ago
If he's really into winning, he'd pay his employees enough that they'd be happy to forego a work/life balance for a couple of years, bank enough that they can quit, and retire.
Instead, he wants them to still forego their work/life balance forever, so he can siphon all of the rewards of their productivity so that he can continue to enjoy a work/life balance that everyone else can only dream about.
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u/darkscyde 1d ago
Billionaires are an existential threat. We must tax all billionaires out of existence or they're gonna kill all of us.
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u/alancousteau 1d ago
There should be a limit how much one person can own/earn etc. Anything above tax/charity/infrastructure/health care.
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u/RevolutionaryScar980 1d ago
or if we want to let founders keep their business- have real estate taxes that are actually enforced in full without loopholes. Sure leave a small fortune to your kids, but that is it. No gifting them a portion (that is a loophole) before you die. If you have 500 billion at death, you can leave 50 million to whomever, the rest is nationalized and sold.
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u/TheXypris 1d ago
They need to be admitted to an asylum and treated for mental illness. Their level of greed is symptomatic of larger mental issues
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u/Mechanicalmind 1d ago
They won't kill us. Not willing, at least.
They need us to keep making money.
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u/darkscyde 1d ago
The fuck are you on about? They are killing us right now. They don't need all of us.
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u/Mechanicalmind 1d ago
They won't kill us directly. They will make us kill each other, because we're too stupid to realize that.
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u/darkscyde 1d ago
They. Are. Literally. Killing. Us. Right. Now.
Every single time a billionaire pays a politician to harm social policy. Every time a billionaire influences societies to reduce their support for ecological improvement they are literally killing humans.
Billionaire actions kill people. They must be removed from existence (through taxations).
I'm not even exaggerating. They killin us bruh
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u/Taysir385 1d ago
Do you understand what I'm saying?" shouted Moist. "You can't just go around killing people!"
"Why Not? You Do." The golem lowered his arm.
"What?" snapped Moist. "I do not! Who told you that?"
"I Worked It Out. You Have Killed Two Point Three Three Eight People," said the golem calmly.
"I have never laid a finger on anyone in my life, Mr Pump. I may be–– all the things you know I am, but I am not a killer! I have never so much as drawn a sword!"
"No, You Have Not. But You Have Stolen, Embezzled, Defrauded And Swindled Without Discrimination, Mr Lipvig. You Have Ruined Businesses And Destroyed Jobs. When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve. Your Actions Have Taken Money From Those Who Had Little Enough To Begin With. In A Myriad Small Ways You Have Hastened The Deaths Of Many. You Do Not Know Them. You Did Not See Them Bleed. But You Snatched Bread From Their Mouths And Tore Clothes From Their Backs. For Sport, Mr Lipvig. For Sport. For The Joy Of The Game.
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u/spaceman757 lazy and proud 1d ago
They sure as fuck aren't making it on their own, that's for sure.
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u/DaniCapsFan 1d ago
That's why they want high birth rates. So if they kill one of us, we're easily replaceable.
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u/Pottski 1d ago
I’m waiting to meet a CEO who works harder than their staff. Any day now.
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u/GooonScaper 1d ago
It's comin. Just like the trickle down. Coming reallll soon. Any moment. Lol
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u/acortical 1d ago
I dunno, they're only paid like a thousand times more than their average employee. And you expect them to work the same amount? More even?
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u/gingertrees 1d ago
Winning at what? Nobody you care about is gonna say at your funeral "he was a winning team player at CompanyName."
But yeah, if you skip time with your family and friends, they'll remember the stuff you missed.
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u/blueberryiswar 1d ago
Thats fair, we have to stop talking in euphemisms. Say: I sell you my work for the highest rate possible and you get no handouts.
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u/Xanthus730 1d ago
I am not committed to (YOU) winning.
Also, my definition of winning and yours are likely very different.
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u/scottyrobotty 1d ago
I win more the less I work, especially if that work is to make others wealthier.
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u/breathofcold 1d ago
The article calls him a visionary. He’s not a visionary, just another corporate tool who thinks he has power.
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u/Mechanicalmind 1d ago
"Winning".
Life is not a competition. We are not lions in the savannah. We do not have the need to challenge each other at all costs. And people who want to be on top of all others are just sociopaths.
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u/Barneidor 1d ago
This is human society in a nutshell, almost all of our problems are generated by sociopaths and narcissists who need to "win" and control the rest of us to soothe their ego.
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u/mr_mufuka 1d ago
If I’m not on a professional sports team, don’t talk to me about winning. Winning implies someone has to lose, and despite what they might tell you, that is not how life works.
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u/BorisYeltsin09 1d ago
This is the guy mainstream Democrats really want to appeal to. This was the guy Hakeem Jeffries went to convince that the Democratic party still had motion. These out of touch billionaires are making the Democratic party just as out of touch
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u/Holicionik 1d ago
How am I winning if the CEO of my company earns 20x more than everyone else around me?
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u/Icy-Scarcity 1d ago
There should be law for all billionnaires to work at food banks and homeless shelter or perform social work for a set number of hours every month, in order to bring them back to reality, to prevent them from getting consumed by money, and to help them develop some empathy.
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u/mj102500 1d ago
To be fair, he’s talking about for start up entrepreneurs
If people want to work like that for shit they own and run that’s fine in my book as long as it’s not expected from those of us that don’t own it
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u/Micturating-Fool-919 1d ago
Yea exactly... if he was applying that to employees then yea I see the rage. But he's talking about the odds being so stacked against entrepreneurs, that you have to be giving 1000% to be a success as a start-up.
If it was a random hiring manager saying he doesn't want to hire employees who want to have a fair work/life balance, like the title implies, that's another thing
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u/itssarahw 1d ago
It’s ridiculous anyone would seek this sort of balance instead of donating their entire lives so the born wealthy can have more
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u/Electronic-Worker-10 1d ago edited 1d ago
This Is the kind of rhetoric that is why I'm glad I left Linked In a year ago
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u/Brytnshyne 1d ago
I work to live, not live to work. I'd like to see how much vacation time he takes per year, I would be a paycheck , small as it is that he takes more time off than the average American worker.
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u/Midnightchickover 1d ago
Fuck winning.
I’m not a goddamn Quarterback, or some avid gamer. Even if I was, why would I want to win for a company whose whole purpose is to underpay me and overwork me along with everyone with hardly any benefits.
Hell, we can’t even get that stuff from our own government. And, you talk about winning.
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u/J0n__Doe 1d ago
What's really a red flag is a CEO saying that work-life balance for employees is a red flag
These people are so out of touch with what's happening in the world.
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u/whereismymind86 1d ago
Oh honestly…Unless you offer some sort of profit sharing, I don’t give a shit about winning, just paying my rent.
YOU care about winning because YOU cofounded the company and have a vested interest in it succeeding
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u/Derrickmb 1d ago
Says fat man who isn’t committed to living a long time or figuring out how to be mentally healthy.
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u/StarSmink 1d ago
Winning WHAT? What essential or interesting service or product are most of these companies doing? Linkedin is just a shitty website for hosting resumes and crap like that. What is this incredible sense of mission that these insane CEOs have that they think they’re embarked on some grand adventure? God damn capitalism is turning people into morons
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u/Auswazza 1d ago
You should never achieve work life balance...it insuates a leveling or 50/50...there should be an imbalance firmly weighted to life....maybe 75/25 or 80/20.
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u/methylpox 1d ago
Damn, I just literally shared this link on FB before coming here and being thrilled you all think this guy's the ultimate douchetard plantation owner son of a bitch. Must agree.
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u/Rdick_Lvagina Post-Scarcity Now! 1d ago
Tell Ried that I'm currently committed to seeking a life-life balance and he can fuck off.
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u/PostalEFM 1d ago
When I have shares in the company, then that might be true.
Until I have shares in the company, no commitment to worklife balance is the red flag.
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u/Stressame-street 1d ago
He’s right, but it’s only worth it if you own the company or assets or resources. It’s easy to be on top and tell people to work harder it’s a lot different to be on the bottom told to work harder and longer while you’re barely scraping by.
They somehow always forget to mention that in these “motivational” speeches. There’s never a line at the end stating I prosper more by your working more.
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u/Matcha_Bubble_Tea 1d ago
Just because dude may hate his wife and kids (if any lmao), doesn’t mean the rest of us hate having a life outside of work.
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u/palehorse2020 1d ago
"Hello? Mr. Reid. Fuck You!!!" I hope your money loves you because nobody else does.
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u/Sumbelina 1d ago
To be fair, this quote is specifically about entrepreneurs who are founding startups:
"But the reward on the other side is second to none; the 100 or so first employees at LinkedIn don’t need to work anymore, he added. Microsoft purchased the professional networking platform for $26.2 billion in 2016."
That quote use from the linked article. And even Hoffman allowed hiss people to work from home during the startup process so they could have dinner with their families. He's still doing better than all these other corporate goons.
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u/LiquidSoCrates 1d ago
Winning what? A pizza party? A $500 bonus? These big wigs gotta realize the rank and file isn’t building generational wealth, they’re paying bills.
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u/OLPopsAdelphia 1d ago
Indentured servitude isn’t a workplace requirement I’m willing to fulfill—and I’m glad others aren’t!
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u/deathtocraig 1d ago
Interesting take from someone not passing on his genetics. Looks like I'm doing a better job winning at biology.
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u/Alivethroughempathy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah and then when you look back, you have nobody to celebrate it with because all you did was work. You don’t have children and even if you do, they won’t remember the work you’ve done, they will remember all the times you were not around. It could lead to marital problems if you are married, that you are always working and have no time for them.
Sure you may win something, but is it worth it?
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u/Commercial-Jelly3682 1d ago
Hoffman? More like scoffman! I want to work so I can put food on the table and enjoy life. Not be a slave to someone else's dreams and goals. I bet he would never say that to his own kids or parents. Who wants to bet on that? I swear if he was an employee he would never dream of it.
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u/SavageHenry592 1d ago
Clearly we are playing different games.
Also for fucks sake, didn't these retrogrades ever watch Hook?
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u/Incomitatum Mutualist 1d ago
Depends on what you want to "win". Rich or Poor we're all gonna die. I'm going to live a full life before my bones force me to "Retire".
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u/throwaway84343 1d ago
Guys, this is ragebait. It literally says one line that he is talking about business owners/founders which if that’s the case and they wanna do that it’s fine 😂 it’s when they act like everyone has a portion of the pie I take issue with
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u/Boom-Chick-aBoom 1d ago
You know. I did that. I went all in. It worked. Until it broke me. All of me. Then I awakened and realized it’s all nonsense. I gave 1/2 my life to work to ‘achieve’ something. The something is inside you, not outside. I don’t think Reed and I would get along.
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u/TuffNutzes SocDem 1d ago
You really got to wonder about the sanity of these people that thinks their shit doesn't stink and how out of touch and tone deaf you can be to the average worker. The people that support and built built his company for him.
People like this are just pure assholes.
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u/joshsteich 1d ago
Not committed to winning for you, shitass. And also, if they’re not committed to you, you’re not giving them a pitch they believe in.
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u/H0vis 1d ago
He does says 'Founders' not employees, so I do get that. Most* business owners, particularly in the cyclone of insanity we now find ourselves in, will have to commit more time to their work.
I don't have sympathy though. Any and all hardships felt by the bosses are inflicted on the workers first. That's been the way of things forever to varying degrees. We're the crumple zone. We take the impact, and when the impact is such that we can't absorb it all, then the occasional monocle falls into somebody's big glass of brandy.
*Because the majority of businesses are small, even if they don't do the majority of business.
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u/reala728 1d ago
working part time hours and being able to afford rent, quite literally would be considered winning for me.
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u/CarobSavings6373 1d ago
Riiiiiight. For founders who "truly want to build a successful enterprise"...Those of us building someone else's will be keeping that balance, thank you!
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u/Technical-Fly-6835 1d ago edited 1d ago
his definition of winning and mine are not same. No millionaire became rich just by working 80hours week. They become rich by making their employees work long hours and by making 100 time more what their employees make.
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u/SpecificBeneficial31 1d ago
He's a red flag who looks like he's about to have a heart attack at any time.
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u/Mission_Ad6235 1d ago
I'm committed to winning. Winning at work-life balance. Boosting my company's stock price does nothing for me, but spending time with family does a lot for me and my family.
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u/Opinionsare 1d ago
In associated news, a billionaire investor laments the declining birth rate.....
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u/WRBToyBaru 1d ago edited 1d ago
This poor fat asses family.
Said that he doesn't know what he's missed in this world.
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u/Flashy-Pomegranate77 1d ago
From the looks of his haggard, double chinned appearance, I think he could use a little work life balance.
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u/Infinite-Garbage3243 1d ago
I'm very competitive... but earning a paycheck is not a prize to be won. CEOs need to be reminded the year now begins with a 2.
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u/QuinSanguine 1d ago
I'll gladly work long hours if self employed or for local mom and pops where every one is paid well enough but actually appreciated and valued as employees.
Not for these shitty public traded corporations, though.
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u/Aern 1d ago
Winning for the company. That's the only thing they even consider. We need to completely shed any expectation or belief that the capital owning class will give us anything. They are subservient to only one master, profit, and every decision is made with that in mind. Acting, even rhetorically, as if that is not the case enables capital owners to take more from workers. We must be completely and entirely adversarial to business or they will take from us every single crumb until there is nothing left to take. Nothing is earned, it must be taken.
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u/Daealis 1d ago
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has a reality check for entrepreneurs: if you’re serious about starting a company, you should say goodbye to binge-watching your favorite Netflix show after dinner or sleeping in on the weekends—you need to be on the work grind all hours of the day.
Arbitrary rage-posting without reading the article. He's talking about starting your own company as an entrepreneur, not every 9-to-5er out there.
To which I say: Yeah, probably. Getting your company off the ground is hard work, especially if you don't have contacts from your life prior to this to immediately take in as clients.
But also, the whole piece reads like a tech-bro circlejerk, praising the grind of startup culture. From the people I've seen who took part in this shit, they were all working past their hours, in all the projects. And while a few of them are decently off now (like upper middle class "well off"), every single one of them is still working, and most have moved out of the young man's game that is the constant startup grind, into some steady 9-to-5s, where they put in their 37.5 and logoff for the day to spend with their families.
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u/Sabbatai 1d ago
Pay me right and I’ll commit to your company winning.
But you don’t and you won’t. So, I am committed to coming in for the table scraps I require to survive, and that is as far as my commitment goes.
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u/_AttilaTheNun_ 1d ago
If I needed another reason to think LinkedIn is garbage, which I didn't, here it is.
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u/_Chaos_Star_ stay strong 1d ago
I wish these losers would just outright state they are looking for slaves so that we can ignore them utterly with far less discussion.
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u/GM_Kimeg 1d ago
I quit my job months ago to get my life back.
Now I trade stocks for a living, and I enjoy the majority of the day for myself.
Of course, this way of living is only for people who have the guts to take risks.
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u/j4321g4321 1d ago
Winning? Winning fucking what? Exhaustion, anxiety, stress with no additional pay?
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u/gogglesforsafety 1d ago
Winning what? Anger? Frustration? Bad sleeping habits? Bad eating habits? Isolation from friends? Isolation from family? I would prefer to lose that game than win.
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u/ChochMcKenzie 1d ago
It’s crazy to me that these guys are the villains/person who changes their life and learns a lesson in almost all media going back forever, and they still don’t get that this is just wild bullshit.
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u/TheXypris 1d ago
Sorry I don't want to be an expendable cog in a machine, destined only to be worked to the point of complete mental and physical breaking
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u/Commercial_Tough160 1d ago
Ha ha! I know he has more money than I do, but I am absolutely certain that I enjoy my life much, much more.
It’s raining this morning. So after taking the dogs for a walk, I’m going to crawl back in bed. I’m lucky enough to work on my own schedule, which is vastly more satisfying than 60 hour work weeks.
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u/SupremoPete 1d ago
Easy to say that as a CEO or executive. SO out of touch with the average worker
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u/raged_norm 1d ago
I guess if you are a founder of the business, then yes in the early days.
The rest of us. nope.
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u/Nateandgypsy 1d ago
I'm not committed to winning, I'm committed to living a slow life with my focus on how to escape the capitalist hustle culture of supremacy and exploitation.
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u/KidouSenshiGundam00 1d ago
He can piss off with that mentality. I would prefer to see my friends and family rather than thinking of doing more work without overtime pay
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u/WhiteSepulchre 1d ago
Meanwhile this guy gets exhausted from working from his bed that he needs to take a 4 month vacation on his yacht doing cocaine off a 12 year old Filipino hookers ass.
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u/xEisenheim 1d ago
Ah, "If you don't have the same mental disorder as me you must be a bad employee"
I do applaud Gen z for not buying into this sort of BS attitude we Millennials bought into.
He's wrong, he has some sort of compulsion disorder, and we as a society never even recognize it as such cuz monnies monnies monnies.
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u/yetanothertodd 1d ago
I think Reid Hoffman's concept of winning is quite misguided. What he thinks is winning is actually losing at life.
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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 1d ago
When you’re that far obsessed with capitalism that you’d skip your kids soccer practice to lobby for laws to force them back into child labor to beat china’s GDP by a basis point next quarter, you’re deep into mental disease territory