>> I am amazed at how many people use those excuses and yet watch 15 hours or more of T.V. per week. T.V. isn’t inherently bad, but it is a distraction. If you work a 40 hour week and then watch T.V. (or video games, etc.) for 15 hours, you might as well be working in a startup. They don’t all require 80–100 hour weeks.

TV and computer games do not require the same level of attention, involvement or energy as work does. They are wind-down activities. They are pure fun. Not that coding isn't rewarding, but it's different and it takes it out of you rather than putting in. I'm not exhausted after playing a game for a couple of hours after work, but a couple of extra hours work would shatter me and make my quality of life worse.

My risk is that I take on short term contracts. My reward is that I get paid at about the 97/98th percentile in my country. This is enough spine for me :)