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Comment by beambot | Hacker News Reader

Elon Musk's life is at the opposite extremum of "floating through life." The man works 90+ hours per week, gambled his entire fortune on two risky hardware companies, serves as a prominent public figure, and destroyed many of his close personal relationships (e.g. remarried numerous times). He's having tremendous impact; I respect him like crazy & would happily back his endeavors... But I wouldn't wish for his lifestyle, let alone choose it.

I rather doubt that you would choose Elon's life either -- especially if you were in his financial position.

(Happy to stand corrected, since I don't know you.)

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I’d be very surprised if Elon consistently works more than 60 hours a week, and pretty surprised if it was more than 50. It’d be a waste of his position and talent if he did. He has the capital and influence to have others do almost all other tasks, his main focus is likely to be on longer term strategy and thinking. He’s also a dad of 5 or so kids. His health is far more valuable than working 2 typical work weeks every week.

He plays up the uberworker shtick for the same reason Warren Buffet in his 80s tells everyone he has a coke and Dairy Queen everyday: because it’s part of his brand and very conducive to moving forward his pursuits. Warren buffet definitely doesn’t have coke and Dairy Queen everyday either.

Elon’s days of working to the bone everyday are likely long behind him, by decades.

Cars and rockets are basically his hobby projects. I wouldn't be surprised if he put in 90hr from time to time because he wants to. He has the free time to do that. The dude is rich enough to afford help. It's not like his kids are missing meals because he's at work or he has to use the extra daylight savings day light to trim his own hedges and mow his own lawn. I'm sure he doesn't do it every week but he probably gets carried away and books himself for a 90hr week just often enough to remember why he doesn't do that every week.

The book about him[1] explains how he is a workaholic . Not just by the worked hours, but the intensity of those, context switching between projects and attention to detail, pressure teams, etc...

I understand your point about "waste of his position" and that he could have a more balanced life, but as the books depicts him that's not the case. Nor it was when he was at PayPal or Zip2.

Good (audio) book, btw. I would recommend.

[1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25541028-elon-musk

I have a friend who works for Tesla as a factory automation engineer, and just a few years ago he told me a story of Elon working with him 1-1 keeping him up in the middling of the night editing car welds. I very much get the impression Elon is a workaholic.

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