#SoG34–80 hours
Yesterday I saw this tweet by Elon Musk where he invited people to work for one of his companies. And then he got in a small QnA with people. In one of his answers, he implied that it takes 80 hours of sustained work over many years to change the world (link). And this is what the letter today is about!
PS: No, I havent put in 80 hours and neither have I changed the world. But I believe him. More than just solving some large “consumer” problems (transactions on the internet — Paypal), he has singlehandedly changed surface transportation (Tesla, Boring), space travel (Space X), energy (Solar City, Tesla et al) and is working towards singularity (Neuralink)! If he’s been able to do all this, there would be some logic, some sense to what he’s saying. No?
Now when you come across something as (for lack of words) ‘counter-intuitive’ as that, there are three kind of respondents.
A. “This is ridiculous. Why would you forgo all the great things that the world has to offer and spend you life in just work?”
For such people, the answer is that there are indeed many other places to find (and they actually offer) meaningful, satisfying and high-paying work that give you personal time and money and freedom and all that.
Please by all means go there! No one is asking you to go chase change-the-world goal.
Elon’s was an invitation to join a special set of crusaders to fight FOR the humanity. Its not a command. You could remain content and happy at where you are and its absolutely cool!
What is NOT cool is questioning him when he says that 80 hours IS required!
B. “Where do I sign up?”
I love you! These people instinctively “get” that they are here for a higher purpose — to change the world. And to do that, they are willing to do whatever it takes. I want to believe that am one of these. No, I havent done shit about it. But I will. Some day. I know I am yet to find that ship where I want to tie myself to. What I do right now (events, entertainment, communities etc) is great but does it change the world? May be. Most probably they dont. I want to paint on a larger canvas. I need one. I havent found it but someday I would. Ok this is becoming a blogpost.
Back to Elon.
He further says “if you love what you do, it (mostly) doesn’t feel like work”.
And I agree. You are no longer going to office. You are on a mission. You are ok to not eat if that means getting things done. You know, flow?
And before you sign up, please know that its not for everyone. 80 hours a week translate into 16 hours a day if you work for 5 days (like most modern businesses do). And 13+ hours a day if youd work 6 days a week. So apart from 8 hours of sleep, you are left with literally no time. You ought to know where you intend to be!
C. “Ok. This may sound crazy but I want to know more.”
These are my favourite people!
The ones that have their eyes and ears open.
The ones that are curious.
The ones that want to take a pause before they take a decision.
The decision could be to become an A. Or a B.
Full respect and marks to them :)
These are also the people that may not believe in a higher purpose.
These are “to each his own”.
These people may not even participate in the discussion altogether.
They may have an opinion but they realise that the others may have opinions as well.
And they let the others breathe!
Thank you, for being this!
Do you know which of the three are you?
I am for sure B. Like I said, nothing I do is remotely changing the world but I am will still put in 80 a week.
You?
Thanks for reading!
P.S.: Oh, before I end, I wish to be fair. Here are some pieces that give you a counter-perspective on Elon’s life.
- In various interviews, he’s said that even though he’s on a mission and has a family and all, he is very unhappy and lonely. See https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-the-architect-of-tomorrow-120850
- There are critics that blame him for using grants by various governments to advance his ideas. In one line, if not for support from public money, none of his ideas would make sense. See https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-06/how-elon-musk-used-broken-marketplace-play-us-all
- There have been reports where workers in his factories are often complaining about working hours. Way too many links to insert here.
- There are reports where he’s been rude, nasty, even inhuman to people for attending things like family functions etc. Again, too many links.
And apart from this, if we zoom out from Elon, there are numerous papers and researches that talk about how work-life balance is important for us humans. And how we need to recreate. And how downtime is actually good. And how working just 4-days a week is even better. There are businesses dedicated to making people happy at their workplaces. Heck, one large part of what we do at C4E is dedicated to that!
And in one line, I choose to ignore all these — the criticism of Elon and the argument for work-life balance. Jeff talks about work-life harmony, which to me is a better way of dissing the debate. Do see this interview.
This is an edited version of an email that I send EVERYday to a few friends. Should you want to subscribe, please do let me know (I am @saurabh on twitter). And yes, I hate spam as much as you do.
