I started working a lot harder after having my first kid (in 1996), to gain the financial and career security needed to raise a family.
For years before that, I’d procrastinated about turning my PhD into a popular science book. Then when baby arrived, I knew I’d have to make enough for a down-payment on a house, so I quickly secured a much better book deal, and finished writing the book pretty quickly thereafter (this was ‘The Mating Mind’, in 2000 -- which ironically was about mating effort rather than parenting effort.)
Many such cases. Of course, parenting takes a lot of time. But it can motivate people to allocate more time and energy from leisure activities (eg watching TV, social media, gaming) towards career activities.
Parental effort can spur career effort.
I started working a lot harder after having my first kid (in 1996), to gain the financial and career security needed to raise a family.
For years before that, I’d procrastinated about turning my PhD into a popular science book. Then when baby arrived, I knew I’d have to make enough for a down-payment on a house, so I quickly secured a much better book deal, and finished writing the book pretty quickly thereafter (this was ‘The Mating Mind’, in 2000 -- which ironically was about mating effort rather than parenting effort.)
Many such cases. Of course, parenting takes a lot of time. But it can motivate people to allocate more time and energy from leisure activities (eg watching TV, social media, gaming) towards career activities.