Ask HN: Why don't we all take care of ourselves?
devinc_heyo Saturday, February 22, 2025Does anyone else observe really high variance on how dedicated peers are to their health?
I work at a very fast growing startup and we all aim to work super hard and efficiently.
If we look at the team, approx. ~50% are working out constantly, eating clean, meditating, etc. But then the rest are often dragging themselves as if they couldn't care less about where their long term health is going.
As an anecdote, one founder must be like 10% body fat, does marathons, meditates constantly and probably doesn't ever sleep less than 8 hours. At the same time, the other founder has admitted not making it to the gym for years now, is always sleeping less than 6 hours, and isn't at all on top of eating right.
Do we ever really gain in productivity by sacrificing these things? I've found myself plenty of times skipping the gym because I feel I "must" get a particular PR out or make sure a project hits some arbitrarily-dated timeline.
I've always imagined that at a certain point when you've "made it" that this becomes a healthier balance. But, from what I've seen in peers a few steps ahead of me, it looks like as success grows this only gets harder.
What about you? What's your relationship with your health/wellness/choose-your-own-term and how has it evolved with your career?