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Comment by thro2 | Hacker News Reader

> Whenever he learned of my latest all night work effort, or when I refused to take vacation because of a work thing, my Dad always used to counsel me to go fill a bucket with water and stick my hand in it. Then he'd ask how much of a hole was left when I took my hand out. Smart man, my Dad - he clearly learned his lesson after that layoff :-)

Can someone explain this?

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The water represents corporate resources and the hand represents the employee. When the employee is removed, other resources back fill to compensate. No need to delude oneself into thinking one is indispensable. The world moves forward whether one is at work or on vacation -- the only question is: what is the benefit and for whom?

Working all night and skipping vacation to work may indicate that you think your work is indispensable. The bucket of water shows you that the mark you leave may not be as big as you think.

I take it as something like, the hole left by your departure is quickly filled. The bucket hardly notices you are gone.

Which is kind of true, watching people get laid off or leaving the company- the machine chugs on.

Now, there are serious changes that can happen thanks to the presence or absence of an individual, but that is usually all in politics & decision-making, and rarely in hustle (e.g., late-night grind).

On the other hand, there are companies which would go to Hell if one person failed to show up for a two-week stretch. How many of those companies survive a full decade? How many of those companies consistently write paychecks that don't bounce?

I get something like "Being at work isn't going to change the world" out of that passage, but I'm not real sure that is the intent.

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