A race against time...

Why is it that it always has to be either work or personal life if you want to rise in your career, climb the rungs of the corporate ladder... reach the top and so on. Why is it that you've to put in insane hours (or be very very very good) if you want to climb the ladder?

Why can't it be both, something like eating the cake and having it too... :D. Well one of the reasons for this could be the mind boggling speed at which we seem to be going. I mean, here we are, working close to 10+ hours a day (earning a pretty penny doing that by the way ;) ) but at the end of the day for what and why???

I believe the way of doing work has got a lot do with the culture of a people. The Brits for example make it a point not to put in insane hours. I know of British companies (IT companies mind you) where employees start leaving by 5 and the company shutting up shop at 7 pm. I mean closing the doors, locking the gates, turning off the lights kind of shutting shop, not the kind we are used to in the Indian IT industry, where activity might only be getting started by that time :D. It's not that the folks in UK leave early forcing their off shore counterparts to slog at work. They seem to ensure that the offshore folks do the same as well. Can you imagine an Indian IT company where EVERYONE leaves by 7!!! I can't....

This is not just the case with IT companies. Shops and establishments in general close up by 7 or 8. Except for a few super markets no shops would be open after 7 or 8. People who have been in the US and then moved to UK are the hardest hit by this difference. People from US, who are used to the shops remaining open till 10 or mid night (maybe all night) thunderstruck when they hear "Sorry sir, the shop closes at 7. Please come back tomorrow.". I mean where is the power of the consumer...

Because most of the Indian IT industry relies on US customers we have been following the same insane hours that people put in the US (hey, I'm not complaining... IT has brought wealth to a huge number of Indians... I too have benefited from this very much)... but just wondering... is it worth going this fast????