Pretty sure only one of those things is something that people on here should be genuinely concerned about having any long term impact on their life.

It seems like it would be useful to include acquisitions too, since that's the other side of the same coin and those numbers can be absolutely massive too...

I have a consulting firm that finds VC and angel investment for startups, mostly tech and energy, and around a decade ago was working for a finance firm doing similar work... A decade ago when you asked "what is your 'everything worked out perfectly' hope for where this company will be in 5-10 years" you would almost always get "successful IPO". These days when I ask the same question I get a lot more "get bought by titan of the industry company X or Y". Not like nobody wants IPOs anymore by any means, but a lot of people would prefer to sell to Google or Tesla or someone with a favorable deal and an honorary seat at the table afterwards instead of going public.

A lot of the biggest companies out there don't do work with the general public, they do work with other companies, which makes them a lot less of a household name.

Don't really have the option of not comparing myself to other people when my paycheck is directly tied to how I compare with other people

Not if you have goals or things you want that matter to you

Eh, there are definitely scenarios where the results matter, and doing a poor job is no better than just not doing it.

My job is as performance based as it gets. Like 2/3rds or more of the pay is performance based commission and bonus, and the bonus is based on how you perform relative to the other sales executives. Like if you're in the top 10% of revenue you get bonus A, top 20% get bonus B, bottom 50% no bonus, etc... It can be insanely rough because even if you've done your best someone else doing better can knock your pay down, which leads to you working a few more hours a week to get back on top that quarter, which leads to them working a few more hours a week to get back on top the next quarter, until eventually everybody is driving themselves in to the ground to crank out numbers like 20-30% higher than what anybody's best was a year ago.

Definitely a lot, but there unfortunately just anything I can take off of it

How on earth is recommending setting goals or being open to change "random crap"... It genuinely blows my mind that someone can possibly have a problem with this post. You're pretty clearly just looking for something to complain and be negative about, which really doesn't belong here

Because there is a limited amount of space so you have to prioritize when deciding what to put on them. That definitely doesn't make them random

That requires having enough time that doubling up stuff isn't a requirement... If I never multitasked I'd be spending 20-30 hours a day on stuff

Surrounding yourself with successful people may not be immediately easy, but is definitely doable and makes a massive difference

I wouldn't call goals, seeking criticism, surrounding yourself with successful people, etc. "random activities". Those are very much all directly geared towards improvement.

It sound like you just aren't reading good ones

That isn't remotely an accurate description of what it says.

There is something to this. I'm definitely not a "hero" but have helped a decent number of people out of tight spots at personal risk/cost. 99% of the time it isn't preceded by some noble "this is the right thing to do", its preceeded by "oh son of a bitch, I've got to do this if I want to sleep tonight don't I? Damn it".

In a decent many of cases there unfortunately just isn't anything to do on practice...

I had to go to a cobalt mine for a finance firm I worked for 8ish years ago and it was one of the most disturbing experiences of my life. But looking in to it when I got home I probably had at least 4-5 things with materials that came from somewhere just like it, and there was absolutely zero alternative...

Half the time you can't even know. I do a decent bit of digging in to supply chains for a living, and someone whose singular job was working 60 hours a week to figure out exact resources origins would barely be able to... When you have company 1 with 10 suppliers for materials/parts and 3-4 backups for each, then each of those suppliers has 10 suppliers for materials/parts and 3-4 backups for each, then each of them uses 5 different wholesalers all with backups, then each of those wholesalers buy raw materials from dozens of different mines, you end up with a chain that is constantly moving and impossible to get to the root of because there genuinely isn't one.

The entire purpose of democracy is to put the power in the hands of the people though. The people not choosing to address something that you want to be addressed doesn't mean that democracy isn't functioning

That doesn't mean that democracy isn't functioning properly, it means that people's haven't cared about climate change

Eh, if you've got like a 99.99998% chance of there being a tomorrow for you then it's pretty safe to say you're certain.

I'm not saying it's necessary or a moral good. I'm saying that it was worth it to me... And I'm not saying that I had to do that to get by, or be in decent financial shape. I'm saying that I had to to be in well above average financial shape.

Eh, there is a time and a place for both... I can say with pretty much 100% certainty that I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now if I hadn't done the grind/network/bust ass thing for a decent while... From like 22-25 I worked 100 hour weeks, then did grad school for a year and a half, then from like 27-31 worked 60-70 hour weeks with a side gig on top and did an obscene amount of networking... Was definitely rough at times, but now at 33 I'm super set. We have our first kids on the way now, and because of all the time and energy I put in earlier now I'm able to let off the gas and spend time with them while still being able to take care of them, get them things they want, send them to great schools, etc.. Wouldn't trade doing things the way I did for anything...

And I know a decent many people who are in the same boat, so I just don't think that "don't hustle" is universally solid advice.

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not

They don't belong in the world?

If my thoughts all became words I'd be fired and divorced tomorrow