[DaveSchmindel]

I can, from the other side of life.

I was raised in middle-class suburbia, in the North East U.S. My family wasn't wealthy, but wasn't hurting either. I did well in school, but didn't have to try very hard to maintain grades in Advanced Placement classes. Outside of school, I worked easy lawn-care gigs with my neighbor and we made decent cash with 20-30 hours of work per week.

It afforded me a life of coasting, leisure, and throwing away my downtime.

I am nearing 30 years old and just realizing that I'd consider my behavior to be bad habits I need to kick. I want to work harder, and I have to teach myself what that means.

[mcculley]

I would hope that there is some optimal balance. A lot of my childhood was spent doing manual labor for money. A lot of that was wasted opportunity to learn more and get experience that would have benefited me financially later on.