I'm not defending their arguments, but I think that some employees can also improve themselves on the job, it's not just the company improvement, I guess it depends on which projects, what kind of management, and the mindset of the employee.
Yes, but as Buffett says, you only have one body and one mind, for your whole life.
If either wears out, you're done. This means that sleeping consistently, avoiding stress, exercising, having a social life, having normal family relationships, investing time in your children, etc. are not optional.
Of course, and I have been pretty junior at an early stage startup where I improved and learned a lot (more than I think I would have at a larger company, at least), but I definitely wouldn’t have worked as many hours if I had more experience, and I think the arguments that center around you needing to work extremely hard (7 days a week, and/or like 70-80hrs) are predatory and have no sympathy for them. As other commenters have mentioned, if you need to exploit people in some way to be sustainable then you’re not sustainable.
