Hogwash.

My dad worked 80-100 hours a week, and was gone for business for three to four weeks at a time when I was a kid. Know what it got him? Divorced, lost half his shit, alimony payments for a decade, and kids who don't want to talk to him. Because when you ignore your family in favor of working, that's what happens.

If he'd spent a little more time on being a good husband and father, he'd still easily be making (and keeping) $100k+ in his field right now. Instead, he's making $130k and paying out about $50k of it per year in alimony, for a net of $80k. How far ahead do you think he feels like he got? He's in a position with more responsibility than he might have been in otherwise, yes - and he's getting paid less at the end of the day for it. Sounds like a great plan for "getting ahead."

It's not like this is a unique story. This is the story we hear about the Boomer generation over and over and over and over again. Why do you think Millenials and Gen X'ers place so much emphasis on home life and refusing to work insane hours for shitty pay just to move up some imaginary ladder? Because we watched our parents crash and burn from it.

Look. Work/home balance is not rocket science. Spend time with your spouse. Spend time with your kids. Communicate your love for them, to them. If there's a problem in your relationship with one of them, find out what and why and then expend the effort and time necessary to rectify it. Make sure that you don't take your home life into work with you. Work to finish your projects ahead of time, look for new responsibilities and opportunities within your capabilities and capacity, and work your ass off while you're at work. Then leave work at work.

It's not exactly mysterious.