Totally agreed. I know a few people who (financially) don't need to work for a living but still do, a couple of them regularly putting in 12 hour days 6 days per week. Of course, that's how they got "rich" in the first place.
In their case, making a lot of money was a pleasant side effect of their preexisting strong work ethic, not the driving force.
(...and don't get me wrong, these guys also play hard when they're not working)
"regularly putting in 12 hour days 6 days per week"
"Play hard" after 72 hours of working? They must be super-human. What about, you know, er, human contact? Like spending time with your family and friends?
The kind of people I know of that do 72-80 hours a week and are wealthy enough to do less, generally the circle of friends are the people you worked with/your clients. Doing good work for people at your own leisure and participating in the community in that fashion is actually something I see those type of people really get a lot of satisfaction out of- like the article says a status thing. Going to local Chamber of Commerce style events, sponsoring/participating in parades, events, youth leagues and so on. Being able to write the check to send the school science team to a national competition as just a generous member of the community at large can mean a lot.
Family gets neglected in that case, or nepotism'd so you can see them.
The act of doing business for those sorts of people is play.
Planning and participating in events is actually quite a bit of logistics work. It isn't just showing up to consume, it's presenting/booth stuff and so on. There's a difference between showing up to an event and participating/running the event that often gets put on the better planner types.
There's plenty of entry level employees "read single males" who are putting in 12 x 5 at work then, going home and pursue whatever hobby they now suddenly have money to pursue until 1am every day. It's still less of a time commitment than raising young kids.
Yeah. Raising kids is not a matter of time, it's a matter of energy. When you have kid you have to (and, hell, of course, you want to), be 100% with them when they want you to be with them. You don't postpone them, you don't schedule them. So that's much more energy draining than time-eating
In their case, making a lot of money was a pleasant side effect of their preexisting strong work ethic, not the driving force.
(...and don't get me wrong, these guys also play hard when they're not working)