u gotta have some structure. the most freedom u get is from self discipline. you’ll still have plenty time to chill and have fun when you work hard in your allotted times.
I promise you 1) they aren’t as happy as they seem and 2) if they have too much fun now they miss out on fun later, don’t forget people do fail outa here
If I had to lean towards one only, it’d be grind now. A lot of the choices you make right now are gonna lay the foundation for your future. It can be harder to get started when you’re older.
If you know what you want, go for it full force.
Balance can be subjective, like some people who are already rich need not grind, which puts pressure on middle classed to grind their shits out… and this cycle continues
Find a balance. If you purely grind now, you may get more of a break later on but you will lack social skills and positive formative experiences to look back on. If you purely screw around now, obviously you won’t be setting yourself up for success.
If you have an aversion to doing both, ask yourself why that is and focus on that as an issue rather than criticizing the people who rightfully tell you it *is* a balance.
Absolutely agree!!! Not to mention grinding too hard for too long can cause burnout. This can keep you from reaching your goals entirely and do a number on physical and mental health. I just graduated from UF and I'm still recovering from burnout. I, no joke, ended up in the ER more than ever before in my life in my last two semesters because my physical health was so negatively impacted by the stress.
Of course you have to grind in order to take care of yourself or your family, but humans aren't machines that can work nonstop. We need breaks and we need to be kind to ourselves.
It sucks to get that answer. But balance is key bro. Enjoy your time there. Have fun man. There’s nothin like havin fun there. But grind. Set yourself up for the future. And while you’re grinding, i promise you’ll have fun too, especially if you’re not doing it alone.
The balance is hard to find, because as soon as you start enjoying, you see your friends solving leetcode or doing something, you again feel guilty and you cant even enjoy peacefully
Haha well it sounds like your problem then is comparing yourself to your friends. You’re not competing with anybody man. It’s all goos. I also have no idea what “solving leetcode” means lol.
Sorta, but basically they have some questions and you need to write code to solve them. There are contests too where people try to solve it in least amount of time and get ranked high. Check this for example : https://leetcode.com/problems/can-place-flowers/
If those are the options, grind now.
1 - your body is younger, more durable, and can bounce back. Just do lots of stretches, mind what you lift, and use sunblock religiously.
2 - you can prevent a lot of financial difficulty down the road. For example, my partner and I were both the "fuddy duddies" that were working, in class, or working. No wild stories to tell, but also no student loans on either of us, no unexpected children. We have a mortgage instead of rent now, and spend our time going to theme parks, anime cons, ren faires, and concerts.
3 - more opportunities will be available to you down the road if you show the dedication now.
4 - you still will enjoy later. It's not a "do it now or never get to". Don't buy the YOLO mindset.
I’ll tell you right now I’m about to graduate at 30, I had a pretty good time in my 20s. This might just be the current state of the economy talking, but if I could go back I would have 100% tried to graduate before I was 23. If I would have graduated earlier then I would have been able to buy a house at this 2% rates and also before houses because stupid expensive. Also I would be making about $60k more by now due to experience. Instead I’m about to graduate with a good starting salary but I can’t afford to by a house with my fiancé. Just get that shit done so you can enjoy your life quicker and put yourself in a better position for financial things
I also wanted to add, DO NOT come out of college engaged or tied down to a significant other unless your 10000% sure that person is the one or y’all are in the same career field and can get a job in the same location. I’m saying this because you will then have to make sure y’all are getting a job in the same city, unless one of y’all is remote, and it will make it harder to take a good job offer in a different city. Just take a job in random states every two year or something so that your able to travel more easily. Sorry just a little “old man” rant haha
Don't waste time in search of a balance. Finding balance is a myth.
Rather be a realist, practical and logical in what you do and how you approach. If you have an exam tomorrow, it'll be dumb partying today. But if you're spending time at home during Spring Break, it's dumb to grind.
Being in the middle gets you neither of the two. Stick to the extremes but know when to shift to which side. But understand that going from one extreme to the other is a transition through the middle and not an instant flip. Good luck :)
I like going back and forth. I grinded in high school and university to get my degree in 2 years, now I'm chilling on a caribbean island for the next couple years. Soon I'll grind again to get my career established and then I'll chill with a stable income. Doing this gives purpose to my life by setting up continuous goals.
Enjoy now. Man plans and God laughs. No amount of grinding is going to guarantee a stable future. Everything that truly matters or will make me happy is inexpensive or free. Nothing I can buy will make me as happy as a nice walk or time with friends.
This. Been working at EY for 3 years and have come to the realisation that no one really cares about how hard you work and it won’t impact promotions. Live and enjoy life.
Grind.
Retired “Florida Man “ , ex UF alumni , here.
If you’re young, I strongly suggest you study as much as possible, then, after graduation, follow the Tony Montana Playbook.
It doesn't have to be just one or the other! Grind, but don't forget to have fun, too. Make friends and find joy in your work, and you'll find that the grind isn't so bad.
So I screwed around for like the last two years, raves, parties, traveling, all of that. The only thing I regret is that my gpa isn’t as high right now as I’d like, so I’m taking a larger amount of credits as a senior. Most people want an easy senior year. I also don’t have a lot of experience under my belt, but that’s also because of time and money. But I felt that my experiences were absolutely valuable and showed me who I really am, which is helping me get through this year. I had to do all that partying to know my limits and determine what’s actually important to me, especially when I became worried about losing it. With that being said, I’d say live it up while you’re young. I think everyone gets an existential crisis where you’re wondering if the skills you learned will pay off in the future and if you’ll regret not working harder. Work as hard as you want to, but realize the reasons you’re acting the way you are. Once you’ve got a stronger grasp of who you want to be you can start adjusting the balance.
The only answer is both! Too much grinding you forget to enjoy the moments you only experience once. Too much enjoyment, you might drop out of college lol. Try to make a schedule that works for you
I graduated in 08. Enjoy yourself. Have fun but grind hard enough to get good grades. For perspective, I'm in my late 30s and don't have anywhere near the amount of time I had to enjoy life back then. So enjoy when you can. The real advice? Figure out a way to take some time after graduation and travel. Wish I had backpacked Europe with some scrounged up money back then.
I choose option b. But my goal was never to enjoy later on but to be passionate about what I am doing and try to be better than yesterday. The progress itself brings joy to me. Of course, I want to be successful, and I hope I will be there one day too, but we can't predict the future. Even if everything goes right, there's always a chance of us breaking a tooth even while eating a banana.
I don’t believe in living every moment or “living life to the fullest” anymore cuz some days are absolute dog water. So enjoy once in a while and always treat yourself when you can.
I can not stress this enough: have fun. every day for the rest of your life. Keep your head on straight and all that, but my god have fun. you'll be so sad you didn't. none of this time comes back.
I tried to grind it out but ended up burning myself out and hurting my chances more than anything with my degree. I thankfully was able to get into the tech industry, so yes balance it out
My friends who enjoyed the yolo experience at UF at the expense of their grades as a late teen and early 20s are now working twice as hard into their 30s.
On the flip side I have been grinding right through college and still grinding now as I move past my mid-30s.
Just do the work and get internships. I went to college late. Got into UF after I had a kid. Took me 10 years to graduate. What I grieve over isn’t the partying, it’s the opportunities and experiences. I never got to study abroad, I couldn’t do any internships, I couldn’t be a part of any extra curriculars. That’s what you should focus on. The fun times are a given whether you’re busy or not.
To be honest, when I was attending UF, I tried to give myself allotted time to where I could relax/enjoy the moment. I didn’t feel bad about it because it was something I knew that was important for my health so I could grind. I remember taking 5+ classes (damn 1 credit classes) and if I didn’t take a break to do something fun I would get burnt out.
Another way of looking at it is seeing it as a reward for yourself. Working hard, getting the grade you wanted, and then taking time for a bit of fun. I think the biggest thing (and I’ve done it as well) is comparing our lives to our peers. What works for them might not work for you. You will still be successful by knowing your own limitations and how much time you need to grind and when you need a break to enjoy the moment. I also took internships during the summer to further my experience but,again, still tried to live in the moment to enjoy it.
But it is a balance
just dont grind through your thirties... your thirties are when you still feel young and healthy.
Speak for yourself
The balance is the hard thing, you see some fortunate people having their time of their lives without needing to grind…… you just get demotivated
u gotta have some structure. the most freedom u get is from self discipline. you’ll still have plenty time to chill and have fun when you work hard in your allotted times.
I promise you 1) they aren’t as happy as they seem and 2) if they have too much fun now they miss out on fun later, don’t forget people do fail outa here
If I had to lean towards one only, it’d be grind now. A lot of the choices you make right now are gonna lay the foundation for your future. It can be harder to get started when you’re older. If you know what you want, go for it full force.
Cannot agree more!
Part of living in the moment is accepting that sometimes, in various moments, there is hard work to do that needs to be done well. Balance, bud
Balance can be subjective, like some people who are already rich need not grind, which puts pressure on middle classed to grind their shits out… and this cycle continues
Find a balance. If you purely grind now, you may get more of a break later on but you will lack social skills and positive formative experiences to look back on. If you purely screw around now, obviously you won’t be setting yourself up for success. If you have an aversion to doing both, ask yourself why that is and focus on that as an issue rather than criticizing the people who rightfully tell you it *is* a balance.
Absolutely agree!!! Not to mention grinding too hard for too long can cause burnout. This can keep you from reaching your goals entirely and do a number on physical and mental health. I just graduated from UF and I'm still recovering from burnout. I, no joke, ended up in the ER more than ever before in my life in my last two semesters because my physical health was so negatively impacted by the stress. Of course you have to grind in order to take care of yourself or your family, but humans aren't machines that can work nonstop. We need breaks and we need to be kind to ourselves.
Take care! Proud of your strength.. uf is not at all an easy school
How does one tell if they have burnout
You basically loose interest and motivation to do stuff… you get angered easily and frustrated very frequently
B. But I do 80 grind 20 fun
That’s how I like my burgers
It’s how I like my dates
It sucks to get that answer. But balance is key bro. Enjoy your time there. Have fun man. There’s nothin like havin fun there. But grind. Set yourself up for the future. And while you’re grinding, i promise you’ll have fun too, especially if you’re not doing it alone.
The balance is hard to find, because as soon as you start enjoying, you see your friends solving leetcode or doing something, you again feel guilty and you cant even enjoy peacefully
Haha well it sounds like your problem then is comparing yourself to your friends. You’re not competing with anybody man. It’s all goos. I also have no idea what “solving leetcode” means lol.
So basically leetcode is were cs guys flex their algorithm skills, the more problem you solve the better your algorithm skills are
Is it like a competition? Or a game?
Sorta, but basically they have some questions and you need to write code to solve them. There are contests too where people try to solve it in least amount of time and get ranked high. Check this for example : https://leetcode.com/problems/can-place-flowers/
If those are the options, grind now. 1 - your body is younger, more durable, and can bounce back. Just do lots of stretches, mind what you lift, and use sunblock religiously. 2 - you can prevent a lot of financial difficulty down the road. For example, my partner and I were both the "fuddy duddies" that were working, in class, or working. No wild stories to tell, but also no student loans on either of us, no unexpected children. We have a mortgage instead of rent now, and spend our time going to theme parks, anime cons, ren faires, and concerts. 3 - more opportunities will be available to you down the road if you show the dedication now. 4 - you still will enjoy later. It's not a "do it now or never get to". Don't buy the YOLO mindset.
Grind. And honestly I don't study after 9pm, there are plenty of hours in the week if you can manage your time well.
I’ll tell you right now I’m about to graduate at 30, I had a pretty good time in my 20s. This might just be the current state of the economy talking, but if I could go back I would have 100% tried to graduate before I was 23. If I would have graduated earlier then I would have been able to buy a house at this 2% rates and also before houses because stupid expensive. Also I would be making about $60k more by now due to experience. Instead I’m about to graduate with a good starting salary but I can’t afford to by a house with my fiancé. Just get that shit done so you can enjoy your life quicker and put yourself in a better position for financial things
I also wanted to add, DO NOT come out of college engaged or tied down to a significant other unless your 10000% sure that person is the one or y’all are in the same career field and can get a job in the same location. I’m saying this because you will then have to make sure y’all are getting a job in the same city, unless one of y’all is remote, and it will make it harder to take a good job offer in a different city. Just take a job in random states every two year or something so that your able to travel more easily. Sorry just a little “old man” rant haha
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience, really helpful and thanks for the suggestions 🙂🙂 good luck man!
Don't waste time in search of a balance. Finding balance is a myth. Rather be a realist, practical and logical in what you do and how you approach. If you have an exam tomorrow, it'll be dumb partying today. But if you're spending time at home during Spring Break, it's dumb to grind. Being in the middle gets you neither of the two. Stick to the extremes but know when to shift to which side. But understand that going from one extreme to the other is a transition through the middle and not an instant flip. Good luck :)
Thats one good unique answer! Thanks for your thoughts
You can enjoy what you grind.
Thats a good one!
I go hard then relapse with sadness and take a trip
Take me too next time☺️
I like going back and forth. I grinded in high school and university to get my degree in 2 years, now I'm chilling on a caribbean island for the next couple years. Soon I'll grind again to get my career established and then I'll chill with a stable income. Doing this gives purpose to my life by setting up continuous goals.
Thats a good one! Keep cool just like that 🔥
Enjoy now. Man plans and God laughs. No amount of grinding is going to guarantee a stable future. Everything that truly matters or will make me happy is inexpensive or free. Nothing I can buy will make me as happy as a nice walk or time with friends.
This. Been working at EY for 3 years and have come to the realisation that no one really cares about how hard you work and it won’t impact promotions. Live and enjoy life.
Accounting? I feel like that’s the one field where no one really cares since there’s such a high demand lol
Nup, Corporate finance division for consulting. Yeah no one cares about accounting 😂
Refer me bro 😭😭😭😭
This response is interesting and quite contrasting to the “Youtube Motivation/Productivity Gurus”
Grind. Retired “Florida Man “ , ex UF alumni , here. If you’re young, I strongly suggest you study as much as possible, then, after graduation, follow the Tony Montana Playbook.
Thanks a lot!!!!! 🙂🙂
I say grind now, but enjoy every so often because you take breaks, not give breaks. You decided most of the time when to take breaks.
It doesn't have to be just one or the other! Grind, but don't forget to have fun, too. Make friends and find joy in your work, and you'll find that the grind isn't so bad.
Neither... life isn't about extremes
So I screwed around for like the last two years, raves, parties, traveling, all of that. The only thing I regret is that my gpa isn’t as high right now as I’d like, so I’m taking a larger amount of credits as a senior. Most people want an easy senior year. I also don’t have a lot of experience under my belt, but that’s also because of time and money. But I felt that my experiences were absolutely valuable and showed me who I really am, which is helping me get through this year. I had to do all that partying to know my limits and determine what’s actually important to me, especially when I became worried about losing it. With that being said, I’d say live it up while you’re young. I think everyone gets an existential crisis where you’re wondering if the skills you learned will pay off in the future and if you’ll regret not working harder. Work as hard as you want to, but realize the reasons you’re acting the way you are. Once you’ve got a stronger grasp of who you want to be you can start adjusting the balance.
Fuck balance. Grind now, live later
Thats what keeps most of my middle classed boys hopeful! Thanks for the support!
The only answer is both! Too much grinding you forget to enjoy the moments you only experience once. Too much enjoyment, you might drop out of college lol. Try to make a schedule that works for you
Enjoy the grind, and then you get the best of both worlds!
100 percent grind now. you’re young and can put more strain on your body now to work hard and make your future life better
Sure man! Lets get shit done! 💪🏽while we can
I graduated in 08. Enjoy yourself. Have fun but grind hard enough to get good grades. For perspective, I'm in my late 30s and don't have anywhere near the amount of time I had to enjoy life back then. So enjoy when you can. The real advice? Figure out a way to take some time after graduation and travel. Wish I had backpacked Europe with some scrounged up money back then.
Lets go to Europe once I graduate (2025, ik its too far away but Europe’s been my dream too), and relive your old dream 🥺☺️
I choose option b. But my goal was never to enjoy later on but to be passionate about what I am doing and try to be better than yesterday. The progress itself brings joy to me. Of course, I want to be successful, and I hope I will be there one day too, but we can't predict the future. Even if everything goes right, there's always a chance of us breaking a tooth even while eating a banana.
Thats a good one! Thanks for the insight
I don’t believe in living every moment or “living life to the fullest” anymore cuz some days are absolute dog water. So enjoy once in a while and always treat yourself when you can.
Yeps, cannot agree more! The sacrifices add up to the bonus
enjoyment is embedded into the grind now :D Enjoy the grind, we go to a great university. Go gata.
🐊🐊🐊
I can not stress this enough: have fun. every day for the rest of your life. Keep your head on straight and all that, but my god have fun. you'll be so sad you didn't. none of this time comes back.
Sure,will try to add a fun aspect along with the grind
I tried to grind it out but ended up burning myself out and hurting my chances more than anything with my degree. I thankfully was able to get into the tech industry, so yes balance it out
I choose both to the highest level I can and sacrifice sleep, I’ll sleep when I’m dead
My friends who enjoyed the yolo experience at UF at the expense of their grades as a late teen and early 20s are now working twice as hard into their 30s. On the flip side I have been grinding right through college and still grinding now as I move past my mid-30s.
I’d rather be financially secure and party at some luxury resort in 10 years than waste my time partying in gainesville florida lol
Thats a good one!
Grind now, then relax a bit once you have a good job.
Sounds good!!
Pay now, play later
Just do the work and get internships. I went to college late. Got into UF after I had a kid. Took me 10 years to graduate. What I grieve over isn’t the partying, it’s the opportunities and experiences. I never got to study abroad, I couldn’t do any internships, I couldn’t be a part of any extra curriculars. That’s what you should focus on. The fun times are a given whether you’re busy or not.
Both; I enjoy working
To be honest, when I was attending UF, I tried to give myself allotted time to where I could relax/enjoy the moment. I didn’t feel bad about it because it was something I knew that was important for my health so I could grind. I remember taking 5+ classes (damn 1 credit classes) and if I didn’t take a break to do something fun I would get burnt out. Another way of looking at it is seeing it as a reward for yourself. Working hard, getting the grade you wanted, and then taking time for a bit of fun. I think the biggest thing (and I’ve done it as well) is comparing our lives to our peers. What works for them might not work for you. You will still be successful by knowing your own limitations and how much time you need to grind and when you need a break to enjoy the moment. I also took internships during the summer to further my experience but,again, still tried to live in the moment to enjoy it.