He came to me and said:

Hey, I’ve been stuck as a middle-of-the-pack developer for years now. I want to take my career to the next level. What should I do?

(This is a real conversation)

Ok, let's see. What’s your area of expertise?

I'm a backend developer working with C#.

That's great! Have you looked into expanding into different areas?

No. There's plenty of demand for people that do what I do, and I feel comfortable working with what I know.

Yeah, that makes sense. So, what’s something new and exciting that you’ve learned over the last few weeks?

Not much really. They keep me busy so I don’t have a lot of free time.

I see. How many hours per day do you work with them?

Eight to nine every day.

How about the rest of the time? Maybe you could look into networking or...

Not possible. I commute for an hour. I also have a family. Go to the gym.

How about just one hour a day? Maybe weekends?

I'm exhausted after work. I don't want to spend my personal time.

Ok, that makes sense. Have you thought about going back to school? Maybe get a degree that helps you grow?

They cost too much, honestly. Plus johnyTheCool54 on Twitter says degrees don’t matter.

How about picking a couple of books?

Who reads anymore in 2020?

Ok, let me get this straight:

You feel stuck, but:

You don't want to expand
You don’t have any time
School isn't relevant
Books are out of fashion

But you still want to grow.

You want to live like the 1% putting no effort beyond the minimum possible.

Let me break it for you:

Anything that matters in life costs a lot. It may be time, money, sacrifice. You can’t expect good things to happen if you don’t grind like the rest.

I’m happy you have a great life balance. But there’s a cost to that. You can’t just have it all.

By the way, it’s all a matter of priorities. There’s no right or wrong here.

But it’s delusional to think you can achieve something without prioritizing it.

Understand that you are designing your life with every choice you make.