How many hours does Elon Musk work a week?
Elon Musk is renowned for his unwavering dedication to business, particularly his flagship companies Tesla and SpaceX. Reports about his incredibly long working hours have made it seem like no one individual could handle the amount of responsibility Musk carries. Working 18-hour days for 7 days a week for extended periods of time is now something of a legend in Silicon Valley. But just how many hours does Elon Musk work each week?
Despite Musk’s legendary work ethic, he is the first to the point out that excessive work is counterproductive. In an interview with Axios, Musk said it was important to be aware of the human body’s limitations, mentioning he often worked 80 to 90 hours a week. However, he added “I don’t believe it happens that often anymore”. Similarly, Musk mentioned at a SXSW Conference in 2019 that he was down to working 90-100 hours a week on rare occasions.
To put Elon’s words into context, Musk works around ~17 hours a day, and ~119 hours a week – which is quite a reduction compared to what he was doing during Tesla’s early years. The CEO has taken his workload more in hand, with one of Tesla’s board members Linda Johnson Rice pointing out that his “20-hour workdays have been replaced by the occasional 16-hour workdays and occasionally 18-hour workdays but no more”.
The way Elon Musk works is an outlier compared to the general scientific consensus. The most widely accepted research on productivity points that it’s immensely hard for an individual to maintain such long working hours for extended periods of time. As pointed out by Olin College of Engineering’s Robert Pligging, sleep deprivation and exhaustion, such as those experienced by Musk, impair decision making and hinder creative thinking. Modern-day research suggests that those who worked 55-hour workweeks dropped in productivity, performing below their best.
Decades of research have debunked society’s assumption that working long hours makes someone more productive. This is a common misperception, and instead, it’s the opposite: overworking means decreasing the efficiency and the quality of the time spent working, not to mention the dangers it poses on physical and mental health. Elon Musk manages to keep a stunningly packed schedule proved by much of his success and the same could be said by some of his competitors. But unless proven otherwise, sleeping a good 8 hours and working no more than 55 hours a week is a much healthier approach.
Quality Over Quantity
It’s hard to debate Elon Musk’s schedule without taking into account the massive amount of responsibility he carries on his daily tasks. As pointed out earlier, the lack of sleep and the resulting cognitive deficits the CEO experiences is an obvious danger to his physical and mental health. But it’s important to look at the context in which the questions around working hours are always raised in.
Musk is a resilient individual and his intense activity on anything related to his businesses and projects shares a common vehicle – the quality of his work. While long working hours raise questions and debates on health, it’s impossible to fully maximize ones capabilities if you don’t dedicate yourself to the projects you start. Quality over quantity is an important factor in these matters, and one of the reasons Tesla and SpaceX have achieved such results.
Living up to Expectations
Elon Musk undeniably works more hours than the regular individual – but perhaps not as much when taking his level of responsibility into consideration. When looking at the added pressures CEOs like Musk fall under in order to deliver, it’s not surprising they work such long hours. Musk’s words hint that he would welcome a more normal work schedule, but his ambitions and the strive to reach results has befallen many others in the same boat.
It’s impossible to know with certainty just how many hours Elon Musk works a week, as the notion of sleep and rest are constantly fluctuating. However, it looks like the CEO is making efforts to find a balance between his goals, his ambitions and his wellbeing. Though he will most likely always face the same level of expectations from the public, Musk has fully embraced the advantage working hard can bring, bringing a positive outlook on life.
Impact of Long Working Hours
We can’t discuss Elon Musk’s work schedule without looking into its physical and mental toll. As he neared the end of Tesla’s fifth consecutive profitable quarter in 2020, Musk revealed he had been operating without days off for several weeks, thanks in part to the struggles the world is experiencing due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Though he ultimately did take a break, such an intense workload has an obvious impact.
The truths of the physical and psychological toll of long working hours are severe in the short and long-term, as it compromises workers’ ability to think clearly and have well-being. Psychological burnout, insomnia, depression and other severe health issues are also linked to long working hours and can take years to recover from. Though Musk likely manages to remain balanced, a 2017 study showed that working over 55 hours a week raises the risk of coronary heart disease by more than 40%.
Finding a Balance
Elon Musk’s unprecedented work schedule has almost become part of his persona in Silicon Valley, but it has been proven there’s little to gain from burning both ends of the candle. It’s important to remember that working 8 hours a day leads to a healthier lifestyle, which creates an environment much more suitable for staying motivated and having a balanced life. It’s also worth noting that working longer than 55 hours can mean a decrease in performance, and that it’s still essential to switch off from work to have a healthy sleep and productive rest.
Shifting from a long-term work culture like Elon Musk’s to a more reasonable one requires policy shifts and a realistic plan to measure productivity based on output, not the number of hours worked. Even though a drastic change might be hard to adapt for many, it’s likely the best path to create a healthier and more balanced lifestyle.
Optimizing Productivity
The key takeaway from Elon Musk’s intense work schedule is learning how to maximize productivity. Working long hours is rarely the most effective method – but how you spend your time, how organized and motivated you are, and how well your team operates are essential. Reevaluating the schedule and the productivity means, an increased quality of work could be achieved with fewer hours. This can be done in a plethora of ways; optimizing technology, streamlining processes, delegating more of the workload and allowing team members more autonomy are some of the methods companies can utilize to increase their productivity.
Adapting your work environment and making sure your team has all the resources they need and that they’re using them in the right way is a key element to optimize your productivity and prevent long-term negative impacts from working overlong hours.
Conclusion of Quality Time
Elon Musk is renowned for his impressive working schedule and the long hours he puts into the day-to-day running of Tesla, SpaceX and much more. Despite his own words suggesting slightly shorter working days than the famous 18-hours, the long-term effects of such a lifestyle are obvious. In order to get the most out of their work, it’s important for leaders to recognize the importance of quality over quantity – advocating a more balanced schedule and streamlining productivity in the workplace are amongst the keys to do so.
