Time

Let me be honest. I'm very lucky.

My job allows me to work from home: no commute, but for the 13 steps down the stairs to my computer. Time: at least an hour and a half a day not spent gazing at this guy's bumper sticker.

I have very flexible work hours. And while I haven't read her thesis ("Det flexibla arbetets villkor om självförvaltandets kompetens")-mainly because I dont' speak Swedish--I do know I have pretty good time management skills and no disruptive coworkers popping into my cube.

My team is largely virtual and changes based upon the project. Because they are widely dispersed over many different timezones, my hours can and often have to be very flexible.

I'm an early riser. I like to start working by 6am. That means my day can end early enough that there's plenty of daylight left for other things.

Most of all, I have a family that understands my obsession, tolerates it to the point of what might be described as supportive, and is probably happy that I didn't take up fast cars and NASCAR women.

And Dan was kind enough to make sure I only spent long hours running my ass off during the weekend.