Tech billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, has hinted at a possible return to his grueling work schedule, but only under a certain condition. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk revealed that he’d consider going back to working seven days a week and sleeping in the office if his young children were away. Alongside the post, Musk reshared an older video clip of himself admitting, “No one should put in this many hours. It’s painful, it hurts my brain and my heart.”
A glimpse into Musk’s workaholic lifestyle
Elon Musk is no stranger to intense work habits. From pulling all-nighters at Tesla’s Gigafactory to treating the factory floor as a temporary home, the tech mogul has long been known for his extreme work ethic. Back in a 2018 interview with 60 Minutes host Leslie Stahl, Musk detailed how he was working up to 120 hours a week while Tesla struggled to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan.
“There were times when we were burning through $50 to $100 million a week. It was a matter of life or death for the company,” Musk said. He added that he would personally fix issues on the production line, doing what it took to get the company through its “production hell.”
Sleeping in factories
In various interviews, Musk has spoken about literally living at Tesla's Fremont and Nevada factories for extended periods. During a 2022 conversation with investor Ron Baron, he shared that for three years, the factories were effectively his home. Musk said he once slept in a tent on the factory roof, and other times directly under his desk. “It was uncomfortable. Every time I woke up, I smelled like metal dust,” he confessed.
He even told CBS This Morning that he purposely avoided home comforts to stand in solidarity with his staff. “I’m not going to be relaxing on a beach while my team struggles,” Musk said. “I want them to know I wouldn’t ask anything of them I wouldn’t do myself.”
DOGE team pushing limits too
Earlier this year, Musk referenced another high-effort team within his ecosystem, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying that they, too, were clocking in 120-hour workweeks. “Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week. That’s why they’re losing,” he wrote, in typical Musk fashion.
