Working too much isn't a way to live
I read this post from Gus Perez, and to be honest I'm still shocked every time I read something like this.
Maybe Gus sees work differently than I do (and no offense to Gus, as he's obviously a cut above most employees), but I can't understand people who are OK with the dusk-till-dawn work lifestyle. No job I've ever had was that important to me. I generally hope to derive some pleasure from working, sure, but the center of my life at least is family (well, my wife anyway), hobbies and such.
That's probably the thing that has kept me from really going all out to be 100% independent. At the end of the day, the job doesn't matter the most. It seems that only Americans miss this point. That's a weird cultural phenomenon too, because although we allegedly work harder and work more than our European and Japanese counterparts, we still trail behind in certain markets.
What's important to you?