Is a 100 hour work week viable?

[Husseinisdoingfine]

[Leo Gura]

You will burn out and ruin your health and relationships.

[Roy]

It depends what you want. Do you want a balanced life, or do you want to excel/get ahead in one area? You will have to pick.

Only exceptional top quality humans (who are also lucky) excel in all areas of life without having to sacrifice a lot.

Chances are you are not that exceptional, so you will have to sacrifice and choose something.

I was talking to a detailing buddy a while ago how he got to his position, making $10K a month polishing/other car work. He said he basically put his entire life into establishing his reputation and skills, letting go of friendships, love. Taking on extra jobs to get more money to invest. Sacrificing sleep to make more money.

He knows he isn't particularly smart or great with people, but he knows he is extremely diligent and skilled at one particular thing. So he goes all-in on that.

The reward is wealth because that's what he wanted.

 

 

[Godhead]

It depends on the type of work you're engaged in. If it's your art, your dream, your passion, or something similar, then maybe.

More realistically, you'll find yourself being inefficient and burnout. Quality >> quantity.

The notion of doing intense intellectual work for 100 hours a week on something you aren't passionate about is certainly BS. It might be feasible if your job involves superficial managerial tasks, such as engaging in conversations and physically being present at the company, but that's not work, that's wasting time.

Edited June 9, 2023 by Godhead

[Majed]

@Husseinisdoingfine i mean i don't understand what's the point, you don't need to work 100 hours a week to earn a living. 35 or 40 hours is enough 

[universe]

If you can get 100h of high quality work done then yes.

Normally around 40h week is a sweet spot where you can focus and get quality work done.

[ValiantSalvatore]

If you truely love your lifestyle and way of living the hours don't matter as much I gave my best to test how far I could go, and I will most likely still test beign very ambitious at times and taking a chill pill. What I find feasible still is 50-60h if you enjoy the lifestyle and like working a lot and take some time off 80h-100h even when I schedule it, I don't enjoy it. If I would not be injured I would go for 50-70h between when I am very ambitious I presonally regret not working more when I was younger, so I have a better foundation. 80-100 is way to much doing 2-3h more during the week and a 4h project on saturday and sunday leaves plenty of time for other stuff friends and activities, especially around the 50-60h mark, if you plan efficiently and don't have much travel time etc. Depending on what you do etc. I would certainly nudge it and not brute force it, working 5h more per week then moving to smth. more, yet balance is very important and everyone is unique. 

With relationships it's more tricky I find personally, so I have to see here also I enjoy working on my vision the most... so I dunno etc. 80-100 is out of desperation mostly I'd say. 45h-60h is okay, everything beyond 60 is rough and I am including weekends already, as I enjoy working a little bit on stuff on the weekends, even just PD and reading. 

I most likely work even less, I just don't notice it due to distractions etc. and beign a social introvert I usually work 47h per week when I track and recall corretly. 

Balance stuff out it's all an ideal, see what you're capeable of and take care of your health etc. Dedicated and focused work is better, yet I would not underestimate quantity, and seeing how some stuff is more a numbers game, even work and skill acquistion. Also take breaks between working session and rejuvenate. 

Edited June 9, 2023 by ValiantSalvatore

[Husseinisdoingfine]

Why is it that there are so many billionaires like Elon Musk and Gary Vee promote this lifestyle, why is it that they are seemingly able to do it?

[Princess Arabia]

It's about working smarter not harder. Then, what the heck do I know; I'm still trying to figure this shit out.

[ValiantSalvatore]

1 hour ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why is it that there are so many billionaires like Elon Musk and Gary Vee promote this lifestyle, why is it that they are seemingly able to do it?

American hustle culture and heavy stage orange. Otherwise some stuff is simply not possible also most likely, and some people love to ruin their health. Some can also just do it. I gave my best doing something to this, as it just rung true, and I feel people judge me still for that amount of work ethic subtely and also subtely not, in Germany etc. I don't like this country for the "subtle gaslighting anger impulses" I feel, so I can't speak for the U.S etc. Also genetics if worst comes to worst and competition and survival some... just yearn to do this. 

If you work a lot and enjoy it for example I am an enneagram 4, and I am happiest when I am working is part of the enneagram type. You can certainly do what is feasible, I can't really work 40-60h at times and work even less average time is 37h in Germany, although in tech it's sort of impossible and you work less and more at times etc. From what I heard etc. For me this is mostly uni and projects, even when I worked I did always do 1h more at home etc smth I enjoy working on. 

I would be happiest beign able to meditate 2-3h a day work in a.i and do psychdelics and have a girlfriend for example and downtone work time at times for other projects and hobbies, such as retreats, getting into photography is a dream of mine, and simply for further education like taking a sabbatical etc. 80-100h is not really viable 45h-60h is a good benchmark if you are interested to work more and harder and smarter. 

Hence more efficiency and scaling productivity. Some work is also more creative in nature it's a balancing act, I work for example harder in the winter and summer than in spring and autumn. 

Most people I meet in university work more than 50h+ I'd say per week and are very happy. Find what works for you. It's a process that you figure out, you also see your needs, even when I work a lot I tend to play bouts of chess to get over boredom etc. Hence procrastinate I also had the notion of deep breaks wrong, and calnew port for example reads a baseball magazine and I was still focusing on productivity reducing sleep to 6h30 etc. 

I would not do it lol, my health seriously deteriorated and I just had more injury, the more skill I have the more I feel creative bouts and re-orientations helps me. I would definitely strike a balance and not work 80-100h, yet if you're young I would say shoot as high as 55-70h per week. I would even still do it, if I would not be injured as I learned how to balance this, yet it does not mean you become succesful automatically, there are so many different ways, I'd say networking is highly underrated and marketing content etc. Leo also has a good episode on this for entrepreneurs. Change things up, also I also get ideas from just typing this. I just also received my first workstudents job interview simply from networking. Inside a big tech company, that seems very healthy. 

Do what you love mostly and you can make a living/career/life purpose out of it, if this is strategical and practical for you see that you do it from inside out mostly. 

If work feels like play you know you're not getting burnt.

Edited June 9, 2023 by ValiantSalvatore

[UnbornTao]

Not healthy. Instead, focus on increasing effectiveness.

What are you doing? Why are you doing it? What results do you want to produce? What is the most effortless way to do it?

Edited June 12, 2023 by UnbornTao

[Godhead]

5 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why is it that there are so many billionaires like Elon Musk and Gary Vee promote this lifestyle, why is it that they are seemingly able to do it?

To justify that their obscene wealth is a result of their hard work and not duping investors or exploitative labor practices. 

[ValiantSalvatore]

What I partially learned from multiple professors who studied arts is trial and error is neccessary and quantity practice beats "quality" in that sense, we're not all geniuses who instantly produce results beyond imagination. There are some studies mentioned often in self-improvement audibooks, that highlight this. 

Good art work takes thousand of iterations and computing power... see a.i art.... etc. I would not underestimate quantity, and not over value strength and quality, I find it's also a sign of insecurity at times. Beign effective and highly efficient is the ideal. This might be a different perspective, as I notice how much quantity practice I need for quality results. 

Re-creating results is for sure good, yet I see this is a bit of bias on the forum, and I doubt many had art professors as influences here in their lives etc. I find only focusing on quality and effectivness is like focusing on that one girl instead of going after multiple girls, if you look for an efficient/effective way you certainly look to simplfy things and improve results. 

I would not understimate the power of trial&error to get evidence of what works for you. 

Edited June 9, 2023 by ValiantSalvatore

[Leo Gura]

On 6/9/2023 at 8:08 AM, Husseinisdoingfine said:

Why is it that there are so many billionaires like Elon Musk and Gary Vee promote this lifestyle, why is it that they are seemingly able to do it?

Because they are workaholics who got nothing else going on.

If they had even an ounce of spiritual sense they would not be promoting such crap lifestyles.

The most successful people tend to be unbalanced, obsessive workaholics. Because that does tend to produce success. But at what cost? There is way more to life than business success. To reduce life to that is an abomination onto God. So it's no wonder that these people are godless materialists.

Edited June 10, 2023 by Leo Gura

[hyruga]

If you keep harping on about 100 hours work week, you are associating negative experiences to it. This means that you don't like it and will not be able to do it long term. 

[Husseinisdoingfine]

I’m asking about the 100 hour work week because I’m wondering if the trajectory of my life. Short term, if I want to build something, is it okay for me to work extra long in a controlled period of time?
 

Edited June 10, 2023 by Husseinisdoingfine

[Godhead]

7 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

I’m asking about the 100 hour work week because I’m wondering if the trajectory of my life. Short term, if I want to build something, is it okay for me to work extra long in a controlled period of time?

I've done 100-hour weeks for like 1/2 a year. It's not fun. You'll get depressed, inefficient and start looking for weird outlets to rebel. 

If you are working full-time and want to start something on the side.. sure, as a transitionary period that might be fine. I see no point in dedicating 100hour weeks to one thing for a prolonged period of time. Just putting in more hours has diminishing returns. Your body and mind need to relax. Work with your body and mind and you'll be much happier and more efficient.  

[Husseinisdoingfine]

16 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Because they are workaholics who got nothing else going on.

If they had even an ounce of spiritual sense they would not be promoting such crap lifestyles.

The most successful people tend to be unbalanced, obsessive workaholics. Because that does tend to produce success. But at what cost? There is way more to life than business success. To reduce life to that is an abomination onto God. So it's no wonder that these people are Godless materialists.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" - Luke 18:25

[universe]

20 hours ago, Husseinisdoingfine said:

I’m asking about the 100 hour work week because I’m wondering if the trajectory of my life. Short term, if I want to build something, is it okay for me to work extra long in a controlled period of time?
 

This will be different for everyone.

Taking massive action is one way to get things done.

And then there are hundreds of other things that could work. For example your emotional state, strategy, leverage, creativity, motivation and mindset. Those are extremely important as well.

It is trial and error. Find a way to measure your output or what you want to achieve. And then see if working 100h brings better results.

[thepixelmonk]

On 09/06/2023 at 4:20 PM, Godhead said:

To justify that their obscene wealth is a result of their hard work and not duping investors or exploitative labor practices. 

This right here is all you need to know lol.