Elon Musk said nobody changed the world on 40 hours a week; he’s dead wrong

The Joe Rogan Podcast/YouTube

• In advertising his companies on Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX
  CEO
  Elon Musk wrote, “There are way easier places to work,
  but nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.”
• Musk’s comments, particularly about how you can’t change
  the world working only 40 hours a week, couldn’t be further
  from the truth.

Elon Musk is notorious for working very long hours, and

getting very little sleep.

He also thinks
long work hours are necessary to change the world.

In a series of tweets supporting his companies, Musk said,
“There are way easier places to work, but nobody ever changed the
world on 40 hours a week.”

Many on Twitter were quick to point out the errors in Musk’s
observation:

One woman was keen to point out the example of Alexander Fleming,
a scientist who changed the world by going on vacation and
accidentally leaving a petri dish open near a window, leading to
the discovery of penicillin.

As so many on Twitter pointed out, changing the world has little
to do with the volume of hours one works, and has everything to
do with the impact and quality of that work. Countless people
have changed the course of history without the requisite of
working more than 40 hours every week. Though studies
have shown working more hours generally does lead to higher
corporate positions, working more hours is also correlated with
anxiety, depression, and worse sleep.

About one-third of US adults don’t get enough sleep — and Musk
could probably do with a little more sleep
himself. Back in 2015,
he said in a Reddit AMA that he sleeps “almost exactly 6
hours on average.” Earlier this year,
he told The New York Times that he often logs
120-hour weeks at work, and doesn’t leave Tesla’s factories
for days at a time. He said
he’s needed to take Ambien just to fall asleep.

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Read more: Elon
Musk says grueling 120-hour work weeks are taking a toll on his
health — here’s what sleeping less than 7 hours a night can do to
you

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But studies show that
sleep deprivation is ultimately harmful: It’s linked to
certain cancers, chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart
disease, and can do serious damage to your immune system in
general.

Of course, every person’s needs are different, and Musk’s
schedule may work for him. But the health risks of more work and
less sleep are undeniable, and it’s significantly more difficult
to change the world if you’re sick, or dead.