To be one of those few entrepreneurs, inventors, or creatives who puts a dent on history, do we need to work 18-20 hour days, 7 days a week? Before you commit to startups, you may want to ask yourself this very question.<\/i><\/p>\n
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The author of this post, Daniel Epstein<\/a>, has launched multiple Unreasonable companies, including the Unreasonable Institute and Unreasonable Group. He is also a self-diagnosed workaholic =).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Last week I wrote a post centered around obsession and balance titled “What Gandhi Can Teach Us About Vacation Time<\/a><\/i>. I received a lot of comments that questioned my thinking and these comments have caused me to reflect on the question at the center of this post. <\/p>\n After having worked with nearly 100 startup entrepreneurs through our activities at Unreasonable Institute<\/a> and Unreasonable at Sea<\/a>, and after working with many startup heroes of mine, I\u2019m left asking myself this question: To be one of those few entrepreneurs, inventors, or creatives who puts a dent on history, do we need to work 18-20 hour days, 7 days a week?<\/p>\n The grittiest entrepreneurs aren’t lucky, they work their asses off and when the opportunity arises, they seize the moment.<\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a> Kamran Elahian<\/a>, founder of 3 companies that now have a market cap of over $1 Billion, once told me that he didn\u2019t take a day of vacation in 20 years. Myself included, for over 8 years, I never took a true day off of work (other than two five-day backpacking trips with my brothers). Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are reported to be so obsessive that they are working 20 hours a day, seven days a week. I remember one of our Unreasonable Fellows, Ben Lyon, used to drink a cup of coffee and work in front of his computer for literally 18 hours straight on a daily basis. Don\u2019t believe me? Watch the time lapse video<\/a> of Ben working at our first Unreasonable Institute \u2013 go to 4 minutes and 45 seconds. <\/p>\n
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