Why Elon Musk Is Wrong About Hard Work

[SelfPeace]

Good Quick Read: Why Elon is Wrong About Hard Work

Elon prescribes a 80 hour work week. Leo prescribes lifestyle minimalism.

Who do you think is on the right track? 

Edited October 19, 2017 by SelfPeace

[DawnOfReality]

It all comes down to what is that you really want to achieve in life. You can realise yourself spiritually through "mundane, materialistic" work and that means that you are willing to work hard for it because you know that is your life purpose. You can enjoy life through work if done consciously, if you are not forced to do it and matches your true being. 

So I don't quite agree. You can be present in your work, if you truly enjoy it

[LaucherJunge]

Spiritual work is also work.

[BjarkeT]

I personally think having a really effective technique to help doing the work is the way to go because it can help you to spend less time on what you want to do and also do it at a higher quality at the same time(at least that seems to be the case in knowledge work I have also found it helpful with personal development but I am not sure if its the same for other areas)  

a few examples i have found:

deep work, deliberate practice. For knowledge work.

fully feel the emotion with zero resistance (when dealing with strong negative emotions but also usefull with any emotions), permanently solving problems by finding the root causes of the problem, do the hardest emotional thing in any situation to ace life, be 100% honest. For personal development. 

Edited October 20, 2017 by BjarkeT

[Steph1988]

Yes an 80 hour workweek is fine as long as you have a mission that feels important enough to you and that actually is important.

What is the definition on work though what about raising your children, visiting your grandparents and taking time for them, caring for animals,planting a garden, reading, thinking,spiritual work, helping out a friend who is moving, etc etc, in my definition this is also work and work that is extremely important. but when you are 80 hours a week at your job you are neglecting this most likely and i have experience with it.

Even worse, mainstream society places the following ''productive'' stuff in the ''work'' category, call center marketeers, commercial makers, lobbyists, salespeople,salespeople and more salespeople really everywhere,how many do we need to have as a society, and then of course we buy to much stuff which requires more stores that also need supply so more trucks driving and in turn more roads and people who build them and people who supply the people who build them and so on and on.

So the question is this , what justifies my 80h/week time investment what actually is more important, my family/friends/passions/spiritual development/physical fitness or making more money for my boss so he can buy that Maserati/huge house/yacht and then you can have a little bit extra money (but not much) and increased status ( allthough i think status is currency for weak minded people without a soul ) or he forgets you completely.

Now Elon musk is actually doing great revolutionary stuff and not all business is bad of course capitalism works to a certain extend but i wish it was working more towards a common good and not to satisfying endless consumption addiction.

And as i look around me i see few jobs that are worth working so hard for.

There are also jobs that are actually important but they are not interesting enough to work 80 hours a week in really do you want to work 80 hours as a plumber,garbageman,bus driver,window cleaner? these are jobs that are of use but not to work 80 hours for right?

In my opinion you have to think it through all the way and then make your choice.

 

 

[aurum]

@SelfPeace

The question isn't about right or wrong. Different people are at different stages of their journey and different people have different need and desires. Really the question people should ask themselves is: what's right for you?

Personally, I resonate way more with Elon Musk than lifestyle minimalism. I value contribution so much. I love success. I don't care about taking it easy.

BUT, let's look at my biases. I'm a competitive, 26 year old guy who is focused on building his career. Maybe when I'm 50 and I've had a couple decades of crushing it and all this testosterone dies down I'll come around and look into lifestyle minimalism.

[vizual]

It totally depends. If you are a stage in your life in which you are working a shitty job, and you don't know where your passions lie nor what you truly want out of life. 80 Hour work weeks are going to mentally and physically kill you, probably. It's slowly going to suck the energy out of you. Leaving you devoid of spirit and health. 

Someone like Elon Musk, a person who has found his passion and joy in life, 80 hours of work is going to feel like having fun. 80 Hours of action is not going to negatively impact him much, both mentally and physically. But even when you found your passion, I feel you still need to balance work time with family/friends/leisure time to avoid becoming myopic and manic. There is the risk of becoming that "mad professor" kind of guy which is going to slyly hurt your quality of life.

[BjarkeT]

@Shiva i am sorry but why can't he know about both? 

[BjarkeT]

why would it be a distraction? if he is doing it intentionally then it isn't really a distraction, right?

if he actually is completely unaware of doing extreme conscious work(i assume that's what you mean) then I don't really think its fair to call it a distraction or saying he is sensitive to this type of work as he wouldn't even know it existed, to begin with

to me, he still seems like he has made further progress than most people has especially in the direction of ones *life purpose/passion* (in the way cal Newport seem to describe it which is different than what most people think what passion is)

Edited October 27, 2017 by BjarkeT

[BjarkeT]

@Shiva I thought you meant distraction in a different way, for example, using his work as a distraction to not do conscious work(or to escape it in a way) similar to when if one try to use distractions to not fully feel an emotion  

[Vaishnavi]

Guess it's more about finding your own balance, what suits you. Leo's video on Balance is very underrated. You just can't take up what Musk says or what Leo says. You gotta find your own balance and shift it the way you like, according to your needs and situation.

 And another point, leaning on just one side of the spectrum is dangerous. Yes Leo advocates minimum lifestyle but I'm sure he had to and still puts in "80 hours a week" to run Actualised.org; and again, minimal lifestyle is advocated to cut out the bullshit that we engage in so that we have room for clarity and focus.

You sometimes do need minimum activities to put in maximum focus in areas that do matter. 

[beastmode]

@BjarkeT @Shiva If you are following your life purpose and mastering your contributing passion, then you are doing consciousness work!  

[Staples]

It depends on the individual. There are a small minority of people like Elon, who just can't sit around doing something not productive at any point in their day. These people must work 80-100 hour weeks because else wise they're miserable.

The writer of that article has forgotten about the personal aspect of working hard and instead is focusing solely on the effectiveness per hour. Elon musk isn't wrong about hard work, when it comes to his own life.

[guillaumeS]

I love to read all your different points of view. They make me think. Concerning Elon Musk I guess he has a vision that he actually wants to touch. He knows that it is something he can build. So spending so much time a day simply makes him happy. He is living in the present enjoying the day knowing that he is part of his creation. Such a state of mind does not need to contemplate so much but want to act a lot. I think this is how I feel right now. I clearly want to work more, for a "job" that is more aligned with my values.

[Joseph Maynor]

Don’t get hung up on these issues.  Find your Life Purpose and then how much you work will take care of itself.