Hey, it was the 80s. We were just trying to make as much money as we could. On a previous thread, someone posted an article describing the trend toward the “Lazy Girl” job that focuses on working less to live more. I didn’t want to work at all but would have loved a job like that. However, those jobs didn’t exist then, let alone the technology to enable them so, instead, I leaned in hard to make as much money as possible to achieve, not a day-to-day work-life balance, but a lifetime balance of working hard upfront so I could take it easy earlier later as @gardenstategal implied. I overlooked the early imbalance for an easy retirement. Though I achieved my goal, the downside was that I spent 35 years in a soul-sucking career.
Many of the jobs that pay the most, even today, require a huge sacrifice of time and personal commitment and many are willing to make it, just depends on your goals.
Our son and his cohort work round the clock, but they love what they do, so it doesn’t seem like work to them. I think they find sleep a waste of time.