Funny you mention ballet dancers. I’m writing a book on burnout and overwork and nearly half the burnt out, miserable, work-til-I’m-sick folks I spoke to have a ballet background. Ballet dancers often have eating disorders, tons of physical ailments, and a really twisted relationship to overwork. That’s because the ballet world encourages people to torture themselves.

Your comment is not the compliment you think it is. There is a massive chasm separating learning to accept challenge, and brutalizing oneself at the altar of overwork.