I didn’t even need to open to the Business section of today’s Sunday Times to find a disgusting article about wealth, status and the American dream. For today, the article is conveniently splashed across the front page.
Hal Steger, the gentle creature depicted above, is a marketing executive worth $3.5 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,” working as a marketing executive for a technology start-up company, still striving for his big strike. Most mornings, he can be found at his desk by 7. He typically works 12 hours a day and logs an extra 10 hours over the weekend.
“I know people looking in from the outside will ask why someone like me keeps working so hard,” Mr. Steger says. “But a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to.”
For several more examples of this mindset read the entire article. Then remind yourself to never, ever move to Silicon Valley.