> doing them all at once to the detriment of the others.
a situation comes to mind
a father who has to ignore his wife + children because he's addicted to "the grind/hustle" of working 12+ hour days and traveling... so he can make money... for his wife + children
is there true net detriment in that case? i'm sure the wife + children appreciate the extra income?
> i'm sure the wife + children appreciate the extra income?
Probably appreciate the money and resent the guy. Also, the wife also probably wants a professional career for herself (or to pursue activities away from home and the kids) -- so old-fashioned of you to guess she will want to play the housewife.
The children would probably prefer a father who was available.
If this guy is ignoring them, as you put it, that marriage will probably not end well, and the family itself will be tested.
If the guy is going to spend 12 hours daily away from home working, then "hit the gym", read 5 books a day, then travel a lot for work, maybe he doesn't want a family; maybe he could just donate a portion of his money to random strangers.
It depends, there's obviously a happy medium between the two extremes. Optimising for family happiness, sure. Optimising for making money and expecting that to return family happiness, probably not.
Or more likely: the image being put forward isn't even real, because it's not enough hours in a day to do them all.