Since the days of Aristotle, the golden mean has been revered. Today's women's movement deifies work/play balance. We ridicule people who work 60-plus hours a week as "workaholics," people whose lives are out of balance. Yet I believe balance is overrated.

How Dare I Assert Balance Is Overrated?

Take, for example, the many genetics researchers who choose to work well more than 40 hours a week. They find that working those extra hours is more pleasurable and does more good for society than if they spent hours watching TV, playing golf, etc. Shouldn't these researchers be honored or at least respected rather than dubbed workaholics?

But let's say your job is more routine. Can trading some of your recreation hours for work hours truly benefit society? Absolutely.

As a group, employees who are asked to work long hours are the above-average workers who produce higher-quality work. If you were a manager with extra work that needed to be done, aren't you likely to ask your better workers to do it? If we discourage people from working long hours, the quality and quantity of the goods and services we receive would decline.

For example, if a hospital's chief of staff couldn't convince the best doctors to work overtime, you might have to settle for second best. If managers at a retail store couldn't convince their best clerks to work long hours, you might have to endure the ones who are so slow they drive you crazy. If the manager at the car repair shop couldn't convince the best mechanic to work long hours, you might have to settle for an auto tech who would be more likely to screw up your car repair.

Less Than 40 Hours a Week

Alas, there are efforts afoot to require a short workweek. Activist Jeremy Rifkin is spearheading legislation that would mandate all workers be limited to 30 hours of work per week. That would never happen? Au contraire, France has a 35-hour maximum workweek right now.

The implications are frightening. Let's say you have a heart condition and really like your cardiologist. Many other patients like her too, so despite her working 60 hours a week, it usually takes weeks to see her. Now imagine a law mandates she can only work 30 hours a week -- you'd have to wait months to see her.

More Hours, More Money

Not only can long work hours benefit society, but there's the money to consider. If you have a fixed-salary job and work long hours, you're more likely to be considered for salary increases and promotions. If you're paid by the hour, work 60 hours rather than 40 and you'll make at least 50 percent more -- and you might get time and a half for the overtime.

Some argue that working long hours is stressful and bad for one's health, but I've found that it's not whether you're working or playing -- it's how you're working or playing. A person peacefully working will be far less stressed than a golfer who gets upset at every bad shot.

I am not advocating that everyone work long hours. For many people, because of their boring jobs, personal limitations, after-work responsibilities or value of balance, fun and family time, it would be unwise to work long hours. I'm simply saying that many people can be effective and not unduly stressed in their 50th, 60th and even 70th work hour, and we shouldn't guilt-trip them into working less by calling them workaholics or imbalanced. Rather, these people should be revered as heroes, the people who toil long hours in anonymity to improve the quality of our lives.

[Dr. Marty Nemko is a career coach in private practice and coauthor of Cool Careers for Dummies. His radio show airs Sundays from 11 am to noon PT on KALW 91.7 FM. Look for 200-plus of his articles on Marty Nemko's Web Site.]