A lot of value to this wisdom. That said, individuals can have a different kind of brain and carrot/stick equation. For me, the only time I felt whole was when I was only working 20 hrs a week as a freelance dev and I took a lot of breaks/vacation. Made half of what I could be making as a salaried employee but I had the space to build the rest of my life to feel whole. Kept my dream space nice, not dreaming about code or work.

I doubt such thing is sustainable in average software dev gigs but I'll keep trying.