My thoughts on Keith Rabois comments on hard work
I recently listened to this fascinating podcast by Bloomberg called Game plan, hosted by Francesca Levy and Rebecca Greenfield with guests, Sara Mauskopf and Keith Rabois.
Is doing long hours, burning the candle late at night in order to get as much shit done as possible a recipe for success or burnout. If results do not always equal the sum of our efforts then, How much work is enough work?
Everyone at some point asks themselves these questions and if you haven’t, you’re probably not working at all. There is a good discussion about these questions in this podcast. Below, I note some of the highlights of the podcast and give my own perspective on the topic.
Podcast summary
Keith Rabois, a prominent silicon valley investor, recently responded to a tweet by another tech investor, who asserted working on the weekends and burning out isn’t cool, with “totally false”. He continued by saying dedication (usually measured by long hours) was the only way to reach the top. Citing notable tech CEO’s and icons as proof.
His opinions on the matter set off a myriad of conversations on Twitter about the topic, with most objecting to his assessment. startup founder and engineer Sara Mauskopf was one of the many who was critical of Keith assertion. In the podcast, she states that flexible hours and a healthy work-life balance can actually make your product better.
This is admittedly something I struggle with. At times, I feel really driven and enjoy getting shit done do a lot of extra work that I don’t need to, so I feel like I work hard on most occasions, but then there are days where I take extended breaks, procrastinate or don’t even end up doing anything at all and then I feel bad because on those days I feel like I’m not working hard enough.
Does working hard even matter though?
Many people talk about working smarter not harder, being efficient with time and all that. From my experience, there is a lot of truth in this. I often find on the days that I am not productive, there isn’t any correlation to the amount of hours of work I put in.
At the end of the day, Hard work guarantees you nothing
I benchmark my level of work against those in the positions I aspire to be rather than my peers. So my perception of what hard work is and looks like is probably skewed.
You could say i’m a fan of hard work
Finally, I do agree with some elements of both Keith and Sarah’s arguments. On average those who put in more hours are more likely to get ahead that those who don’t. But any statistician will tell you that averages can be misleading. In His argument, Keith used prominent CEO’s as proof that he is right, but there is a fatal flaw in this — Survival bias. There are probably lots of folks who put in just as many hours or even more than those he mentioned but never made it, so we never hear/talk about them.
At the end of the day, burnout is a dangerous thing, that must be avoided at all costs. After thinking about this a lot, I’ve come to the realisation that your burnout threshold and other life commitments should determine how hard one should work.
Hello, I’m Ayo! I’m a writer, student, Digital marketer and founder of DearMarketingstudenT. Find me on twitter @ayo_af or check out my personal website and subscribe to my private email newsletter here. If you like this post give it a 💚 and share! :)
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