Some perspective on working hard

11:37 pm on a Friday night. Empty WeWork. 15,000 sq ft of silence. Just me typing away.

It’s the kind of moment founders romanticize, the lone warrior burning the midnight oil, the hero in the grind. I almost felt like thumping my chest: Look at me, outworking everyone else.

Then it hit me: typing on a keyboard for 12 hours a day isn’t “hard work” at all, not in the real sense. It’s just what is considered hard inside our tiny tech-startup bubble.

Our Hard Work Bubble 🫧

In startup land, a week spent on your desk working is worn like a badge of honor.

Founders (myself included) keep posting about late night grinds, weekend product sprints, and last minute launches.

But if we step outside our glass buildings, we'll see what real hard work looks like.

• The security guard who lives away from his family, working 12-hour shifts, just to cover rent and send some money back home.
• The cleaning lady who works three jobs so her son can get through school. She sleeps 4 hours a night and can not afford coffee.
• The construction crew who built the very buildings we work in... day and night, toiling in the sun.
• The taxi driver who drives for 12 hours a day and is harassed by cops for sleeping in his car.

... I could go on. But you get the point.

In startups, we often assume hard work is the exception because we're not like "those corporate types" who clock out of work at 5 pm.

But in the real world, hard work is table stakes.

EVERYONE around you works 6 days a week, for 10-12 hours a day, doing actual laborious hard work... without a decent shot at any significant upside. They do it for pennies.

For them, hard work is not an option. It is the default. Work hard or sleep hungry – that is the choice.

Realize this

If you're an entrepreneur, and think that taking calls and typing away at a keyboard for potentially 100's of millions of dollars is "hard work" – then please think again.

Many people work hard without having an upside that is even in the same universe as yours.

Stop glorifying your grind. Understand that it's table stakes in most parts of the world. If anything, you're probably too easy on yourself. Go harder.

Be grateful that you were born with the opportunity to go to school and type on a keyboard for a living.

Be thankful that you can work hard for 10 years and end up with $100M in your bank account. Then show your gratefulness by working harder and actualizing your potential.

When you win, don't forget to take care of those who weren't as fortunate as you.

The real grind is happening all around me. I'm just blessed my grind happens here, in an air-conditioned office, on a comfortable chair at my keyboard.

11:57 pm... typing away...

This blog is more of a note to self than anything else. Many people appreciate me for "working hard". And I do put in a lot of hours. But reflections like this keep me humble and grounded in global reality.

Hope this was useful for some of you, too!