Bobbin
Honorary Master
When looking at high achievers (Successful individuals with wealth, accolades or recognition) in the world I've encountered 2 distinct "strategies".
Those who work 100 hours a week including weekends, simply out-competing everyone around them (i.e. Elon Musk).
Those who employ an optimizing strategy, focusing on doing the least amount of work with the highest value and certainly not putting in excess hours (i.e. Tim Ferriss).
Both could be said to work smart vs hard depending on their focus in those hours - so that's a little off topic. Who knows which of these high achiever types actually enjoy life (Or success) and whether that's the point of it all.
In doing a bit of basic reading on the subject I'm somewhat confused on the matter as well. In the book - Peak Performance, by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, the entire theme revolves around periodization of stress and rest, both in physical training as well as in the business environment. The best achievers supposedly know how and when to rest properly and actually prioritize it just as seriously as work. Yet some of the wealthiest or successful people out there seem to have made their way through extreme grit and an absolute abhorrence of vacations and rest - implying that simply outworking everyone else consistently is the way to get ahead.
By monitoring my own time lately I've also found a couple of inconsistencies and interesting observations as well:
1. The amount of hours I spend a day doing mundane but necessary things is actually quite significant (Cleaning, shopping, commute, cooking, showering, family interruptions etc...) - making a 100 hours work week seem nearly impossible, where I might call BS on that claim anyway. And I'm single - imagine a family man trying to do that.
2. The amount of hours I spend a day actually working on my goals is far lower than I imagined. You will likely be shocked at this if you monitored your own time. Even if some of my goals are aligned with my career, the repetitive mundane stuff you have to do on a job doesn't necessarily push you forward either. For example rather than take a call from a client with a problem or a project I'm really not interested in but could take hours/days - I could be learning or working on a new technology instead, but this isn't a choice I can necessarily make.
3. If you actually want to commit a decent amount of time to your goals - you probably need to turn off that TV and any other entertainment for good. You will again be shocked at how much time this takes out of the remainder of your measly 16 - 18 hour (awake) day if you wish to commit an effective amount of time on your goals.
4. I have too many hobbies (Gym, Guitar, Gaming) - even if I only have 3 of them. I would be very sad to drop any of them off the radar but likely would keep gym (Health) and drop the other 2 if forced to choose. Even just going to gym could take up to 2 hours out of your day including getting changed, planning routines, travel etc...
5. It is sometimes a little tricky to classify what exactly is work. Is getting dressed for work part of those 100 hours? Is doing chores/errands just to maintain your livelihood part of those 100 hours? Or are these guys really pushing beyond that?
6. I can't decide whether 8 hours a day of sleep or less than 6 hours is the "right" thing to do. Again there is so much conflicting info about success (more hours or more rest) in this domain.
Anyway the above is just for the sake of sharing my thoughts. Clearly I overthink
So I'm curious:
How many hours a week do you work?
How many of those hours are aligned with your goals/pursuits in life?
Do you consider yourself a high achiever?
Do you meticulously plan and/or monitor your time/days/weeks/goals?
Those who work 100 hours a week including weekends, simply out-competing everyone around them (i.e. Elon Musk).
Those who employ an optimizing strategy, focusing on doing the least amount of work with the highest value and certainly not putting in excess hours (i.e. Tim Ferriss).
Both could be said to work smart vs hard depending on their focus in those hours - so that's a little off topic. Who knows which of these high achiever types actually enjoy life (Or success) and whether that's the point of it all.
In doing a bit of basic reading on the subject I'm somewhat confused on the matter as well. In the book - Peak Performance, by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, the entire theme revolves around periodization of stress and rest, both in physical training as well as in the business environment. The best achievers supposedly know how and when to rest properly and actually prioritize it just as seriously as work. Yet some of the wealthiest or successful people out there seem to have made their way through extreme grit and an absolute abhorrence of vacations and rest - implying that simply outworking everyone else consistently is the way to get ahead.
By monitoring my own time lately I've also found a couple of inconsistencies and interesting observations as well:
1. The amount of hours I spend a day doing mundane but necessary things is actually quite significant (Cleaning, shopping, commute, cooking, showering, family interruptions etc...) - making a 100 hours work week seem nearly impossible, where I might call BS on that claim anyway. And I'm single - imagine a family man trying to do that.
2. The amount of hours I spend a day actually working on my goals is far lower than I imagined. You will likely be shocked at this if you monitored your own time. Even if some of my goals are aligned with my career, the repetitive mundane stuff you have to do on a job doesn't necessarily push you forward either. For example rather than take a call from a client with a problem or a project I'm really not interested in but could take hours/days - I could be learning or working on a new technology instead, but this isn't a choice I can necessarily make.
3. If you actually want to commit a decent amount of time to your goals - you probably need to turn off that TV and any other entertainment for good. You will again be shocked at how much time this takes out of the remainder of your measly 16 - 18 hour (awake) day if you wish to commit an effective amount of time on your goals.
4. I have too many hobbies (Gym, Guitar, Gaming) - even if I only have 3 of them. I would be very sad to drop any of them off the radar but likely would keep gym (Health) and drop the other 2 if forced to choose. Even just going to gym could take up to 2 hours out of your day including getting changed, planning routines, travel etc...
5. It is sometimes a little tricky to classify what exactly is work. Is getting dressed for work part of those 100 hours? Is doing chores/errands just to maintain your livelihood part of those 100 hours? Or are these guys really pushing beyond that?
6. I can't decide whether 8 hours a day of sleep or less than 6 hours is the "right" thing to do. Again there is so much conflicting info about success (more hours or more rest) in this domain.
Anyway the above is just for the sake of sharing my thoughts. Clearly I overthink
So I'm curious:
How many hours a week do you work?
How many of those hours are aligned with your goals/pursuits in life?
Do you consider yourself a high achiever?
Do you meticulously plan and/or monitor your time/days/weeks/goals?
He speaks of relative wealth which is an interesting concept too. 
