So, I fall into the "work so much" category, and I'll explain what I do and how the balance comes.

So, I do corporate sales. A typical week, I work ~60 hours, last week of a month is ~80 and last week of a quarter is ~100.

So for the 60s - I work from home baring the times a client will just not close a deal without a face to face, which has gotten rarer over the years. So, I get up at ~7, grab a cup of coffee, and dick around for 30 minutes. Then I go into work. Work straight until 530. That gives me my 5 10s. My group of friends does dick all on Wednesday nights, so that my contract review night (aka - who's pushing me on redlines, who can I get stuff out to legal for, etc), which I put like 5 hours into (turning that into a 15 hour day). Saturdays and Sundays, I spend about 2.5 hours checking emails and doing a few odds and ends. There's 60.

Last week of the month, I get up about an hour earlier, work an hour later, and turn my Saturday and Sunday into ~6-7 hour days during the day time usually (since my friends are getting out at night).

Last week of the quarter, I go full hermit mode, but that's 4 times a year.

So compare my normal week to most people's- I don't have a commute. I don't need to suit up most days. I can push my shower to the end of the day before I go out (which, I'd assume most people are taking a shower before work and before they go out for the night, so that cuts time for me). I don't do lunch. On a normal Monday- Friday, I probably spend less time at "work" when you factor those things in than most people working normal jobs. My few hours on the weekend are flexible. My Wednesday is the big difference.

End of month is hectic, but still leaves me plenty of time to socialize.

End of quarter sucks, but that's 4 weeks of my year.

In exchange for working like this, I'm on track to retire with enough in the bank to reasonably take $10k a month, inflation adjusted, for life out of retirement while continuing to grow my nest egg, by, at the latest, 43 by the last time I ran the numbers. Which, for a person who had a net worth of ~$500 at 18, isn't a bad way to plan it out. I know when my slow seasons are and I get to vacation. I have 2 tropical vacations planned over the next 6 months. I bought my house in cash. I have people over at my place usually 2-3 nights a week - my number 1 requirement on my house was a huge living room so I could fit everyone in. I do active volunteer work with a nonprofit. I go out of the town with my friends a couple nights a week. I play shadowrun with some friends one night a week. That's not to say there aren't downsides - one of mine is that almost every minute of my days are planned. If you asked my in 3 weeks, on Thursday if and when I would be playing video games, I could tell you. But that's just it, I plan my life because in doing so, I make time for everything I want to do while still achieving my goals.