A LinkedIn post by a Delhi-based professional has reignited debate around work-life balance, with many users questioning whether early-career professionals should prioritise availability over personal time.
In his post, Aryan Anurag recounted losing interest in a young founder after the latter suggested connecting on Monday instead of discussing a project on a Friday night. “Last Friday, I reached out to a very young founder for a project and his response was ‘Let’s connect on Monday.’ Mind you, this was an exciting and important project!” he wrote.
Anurag said he immediately contacted someone else that same night, discussed the project and handed over the work. When the first founder followed up on Monday, the opportunity was already gone. “The point of me talking about this is not to rant about the 1st guy, it’s just to put it out there that, availability, at the start of your career, is a very important skill,” he added.
While acknowledging that work-life balance matters, Anurag argued that timing plays a crucial role. “‘Let’s speak next week’ doesn’t work when you’re starting your career,” he wrote, adding that successful people can afford to delay conversations because “opportunities chase them,” whereas newcomers must chase opportunities.
He stressed that the person who secured the project “wasn’t more talented… just more available,” and advised young professionals to set boundaries only after building credibility.
“Remember that your weekends are not more important than your future. The market doesn’t care about your schedule. It only cares about your hustle,” he wrote, concluding with a message urging people to “stop acting like you are successful before you actually are” if they want extraordinary success.
(Also Read: ‘Meant for imbalance’: Delhi entrepreneur’s take on work-life balance sparks debate)
Backlash and clarification
The post quickly drew criticism, with many users pushing back against the idea that ambition should come at the cost of personal boundaries.
As the backlash grew, Anurag issued a clarification, saying his comments were meant for those aiming for exceptional success. “Extraordinary output = extraordinary input. Rest to each their own. We run a remote team with an unlimited no questions asked leave policy. So work culture is well understood,” he wrote.
However, the explanation did little to calm the debate.
One user commented, “Quiet concerned with the ending remark saying stop being lazy. Setting boundaries is not same as being lazy. Maybe even at start of the career the person is okay losing such opportunities. Boundaries are set when you want to set them. Early in career or late does not define it. Framing weekend work as a proxy for ambition and boundaries as laziness oversimplifies the reality.”
“Disregarding a person's right to a weekend just because they are early in their career is a very damaging attitude to put forward as a co-founder. If you were ranting, I would've understood that it's a 'you' problem. But the single fact that you narrated the event to support your disregard for the importance of WLB in the career of a person who's starting out gives off a different image. I honestly think it was absolutely fair of you to get the work done by someone else because you needed it urgently. That's entirely your choice. But putting this tale forward to support such a degrading view of work life was probably not a very good approach. I hope your view regarding these moderates sometime in the future. Cheers! P.S. the other person deciding not to work during their weekend was their choice - that should've been respected, and not belittled,” commented another.
“1st guy dodged a bullet. When someone onboards a project at 10 PM on a Friday, that's a pretty good indication of how they'll run the project over its life. A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on the other party's end, even if you're paying them,” wrote a third user.