Sometimes, it’s okay to sacrifice pleasure to responsibility. It’s never okay to sacrifice pleasure to guilt.
Ancient people used to sacrifice goats to the gods, in order to get bountiful harvests. Modern people think that’s cruel to the goats. I’ll be honest: if killing a goat would actually bring you a good harvest, it’s a heck of a deal and you should do it. The problem wasn’t cruelty to the goat, it was needless cruelty to the goat.
Sometimes we’re backed up in our responsibilities and we say “I can’t do something I’ll enjoy because I have too much to do.” Okay, but if you don’t play with your kids, are you actually going to use that time to meaningfully make progress on your goals so you can play with them more in the near future? Or are you just torturing yourself because you feel guilty?
Only make sacrifices that mean something. Good trade-offs. Don’t just sacrifice out of penance. That gains you nothing but a dead goat and a bad harvest.
The Opportunity Machine 