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Elon Musk built SpaceX and helped turn Tesla Inc. into an electric-vehicle giant while repeatedly working more than 100 hours a week, a schedule he has linked to vacations that went spectacularly wrong.
Musk Builds Companies Through Relentless Workweeks
After Compaq bought Zip2 in 1999, Musk helped create X.com, which became PayPal before eBay acquired it in 2002. He founded SpaceX that year, joined Tesla’s board in 2004 and became its chief executive in 2008.
Musk said building his companies sometimes required more than 100 hours weekly, and his workload later climbed to about 120 hours after he bought Twitter.
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“Go to sleep, I wake up, work, go to sleep, work, do that 7 days a week,” he said, speaking at the Ron Baron Conference in November 2022.
During Tesla’s 2018 Model 3 production sprint, Musk slept at the Fremont factory as employees worked mandatory weekend shifts to reach a 5,000-car weekly target. “I don’t have time to go home and shower,” he said. Musk later said he wanted workers to see their leader sharing the hardship.
Rare Vacations Bring Disasters and Near-Death
His rare breaks became part of his work mythology. Musk said one week off coincided with explosions involving Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic vehicles. During another, a SpaceX rocket exploded.
“The lesson here is, don’t take a week off,” he said.
While Musk flew to Australia for his 2000 honeymoon, X.com executives moved to replace him with Peter Thiel. On a later trip to Brazil and South Africa, Musk contracted severe malaria and nearly died.
“That’s my lesson for taking a vacation,” Musk later said. “Vacations will kill you.”
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Even when he travels, Musk has played down the idea that he disconnects. Asked during 2022 testimony about trips with Tesla director James Murdoch, he replied, “‘Vacation’ is a strong word. For me it’s an email with a view.”
Work Ethic Carries Serious Health Risks
Tesla’s latest annual filing says the company remains highly dependent on Musk even though he does not devote his full time to it because he also manages SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and other ventures.
The approach carries health risks. The World Health Organization and International Labor Organization found that working at least 55 hours weekly was associated with a 35% higher stroke risk and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease than working 35 to 40 hours.
Image via Shutterstock
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