There's been so much written about hustle porn and one of the most outspoken people on Twitter is @dhh on Twitter. He is one of the founders of Basecamp and with his cofounder, has even written a book about it not having to be crazy at work. As much as I like to agree with him, the reality of the world we live in is often nuanced. As much as I'd like to fully agree that you can build highly successful businesses with a maximum 40 hour workweek, my day to day shows otherwise. I have been dwelling on this quite a bit the past couple of months as I go about building Receeve with my team.
I heard long ago from someone that there is a reality about life and it goes as follows: health, career, family.....pick two. I've surely written about this before on here. What I do truly feel is that this is simply an ever shifting equation. At times it's health and career. Then a family comes into the picture and it becomes family and career. Health usually suffers probably followed by family when people pick their options. Is this right or wrong? I have no clue but time and again I have seen that this is true for people at certain stages of their lives.
There's also a ton of survivor bias at play in the above equation. Looking back, a lot of well off entrepreneurs expunge upon the ability to build super successful businesses with less than 40 hour workweeks......long after they actually built their businesses. The believe they worked or were able to work far less in the rearview mirror but this was hardly ever the case. Similarly, there are a ton of founders who have safety nests built in when growing their businesses (some call this privilege). They either come from wealth, had windfalls or whatever, insuring any downside they may have, when and if they fail. The point is that so much clouds their view of what they themselves did on their journey to success and what drove their success.
Can you build a successful business on 40 hours a week? Sure you can. But here is the last problem that comes into play. How do you define success? If it's a business which is profitable, makes you happy and feeds you and your employees you can be super successful. Nevertheless, if you raise venture capital and are driven by the need for a 10x or greater exit down the road, you may need to think differently. Thankfully digitalization and expectations have changed for the better, allowing a ton of businesses to exist where you can be super successful without killing yourself. I am quite happy that this reality is so. At the same time, you are only deluding yourself if you go into certain businesses believing that average effort will lead to above average returns.
I for myself have chosen to build a venture backed business. Having been a VC, I know what it takes in terms of effort and I haven't really had a 40 hour workweek in years. At the same time, I make sure to focus on my health as well as my family. There is a ton of compromise involved but I knew what I was getting into and did so with the blessing of my family. Would I like to spend more time with my son or out on my bike? You bet I would but I have had phases in my career and life where I did a lot of this. Right now, my work/life balance swings towards work and I am perfectly fine with that. It will swing elsewhere in the future but until then, work outweighs vacation. (No this doesn't mean I take zero vacation!) Work also outweighs exercise (but I still exercise regularly, just less so!) Work takes priority to family (yet I try to drive my son to kindergarten every morning and when in town, spend at least an hour a day with him and as much as possible on the weekends!) Sleep....well that is suffering a ton but I am trying to get better.
This is all my reality. Everyone will have their own so be really careful when listening to others about what is right and wrong. It may be right for them now but wasn't when they became successful. Likewise, you don't hear many people who failed talking about working less. Make up your own mind.