I want to work less hours for an employer / a client also because I want to invest productive hours in my own self improvement and personal projects. There should be a lot more flexibility from the employer side in how many hours an employee commits to working. It should probably be negotiable and explicitly stated in the employment contract.
In context of the article, take pride in what you're doing. Last night as my decompression or relaxation tool I was cutting up some nice solid oak trim pieces for a carpentry project and took enormous pride in getting everything to fit perfectly with absolutely perfect miter cuts (which is harder to do than non carpenters think...) Well maybe not utterly perfect but better than I've ever done before, might not be able to slip a business card in anywhere but a razor could be hammered into some of the gaps.
Anyway in article context I followed rule #2 in having great pride in doing an excellent job, I just happened to be doing carpentry for fun at the time. Was not being an evil programmer by not being attached to a keyboard for those two hours.
The TLDR of the whole article seems to be if you develop discipline then when you need discipline you'll be better off than undisciplined folks. Or if you train hard all the time, work becomes easy, which is crucial during rough times.
This is how lucky people talk. I'm more successful than people I know that are more talented. I could come up with a philosophy on life but I know better.
