Yes. I'm fond of the Kinky Friedman quote "find what you like and let it kill you". You should enjoy what you do and do it well. This includes, where necessary, putting in the hard yards.

The author is right that working long hours for an employer is actually an intellectually lazy way to live. However this doesn't make hard work, effort or high-standards in themselves wrong at all. This is also a lazy attitude.

I think wording along the lines of "stop associating your life with your job" is more in line with what the author meant. You absolutely should want to contribute to progress and be a part of something greater than yourself.

However, the distinction is that whatever you are working on RIGHT NOW is not what's all important. You may and should love what you're doing right now, but attaching too much of your identity to your current product/role/company will cause you pain if the product/company fails, or prevent you from taking opportunities elsewhere where you can contribute to your overall goals more than where you currently are.

What you're saying makes sense, but I suspect is different than what the author means to say: "What you do for a living distinctly differs from who you are." There is work and there is job. I want to associate my work with my life, not the job where I currently do my work. I think the original article is telling me to not associate my life with my work.

He also says "learn languages, play music instrument, do sports", but these actually require work and overcoming yourself, and are synergistic with whatever you do 9-5.

I don't think it's necessarily selfish to want to separate your life and your work, but I do disagree that it's necessary. Whenever I see anyone earnestly giving the advice that you absolutely must do this in order to be happy, I just tend to think that's a person who hasn't happened to find the job that really lights their fuse. And that's fine, but these people need to stop telling those of us who have that we need to identify with our jobs less. It reeks of the kind of bitterness the less productive people have for the go-getters for "making them look bad."

I agree as far as that goes. I'm very much in favor of working on great things that contribute to progress. I will add, however:

1. Make sure what you're working on is really a great thing that contributes to progress (e.g. not another junk social media "app").

2. If what you're doing really matters, all the more important to stick to a disciplined 30-40 hour working week to retain your ability to think clearly, instead of slopping into overtime and destroying your judgment.

3. Raising a family is the most important job of all (in a real sense it's the supergoal of which everything else we do is just a subgoal).

It just depends on how you find meaning in life. Hedonists and creatives are not interested in executing great ideas or progress, while the more traditional sort that is interested in progress & building things conversely does not place the same value on pleasure or arts that the hedonists and creatives do, respectively.

I try to aim for being productive at work and hedonistic at home. "Work hard, play hard" is the traditional phrasing.