Jake Burhans points out a cultural contradiction: athletes working 70-plus hours a week are heroes, but entrepreneurs logging the same hours get called workaholics. Why does society celebrate extreme dedication in sports but shame it in business?
And here's the other thing I will never understand, okay? If I was in the NHL or I was in the NBA or the NFL, I was a professional athlete and I put in 78 hours a week, you would think that that's so noble. You'd say, oh my gosh, Jake, you are so dedicated. Look at him, he works really hard. He's focused, he doesn't get distracted. But as soon as it's about work, which is something that we should hate so that we can get back to something that we enjoy, which is our life, it becomes, oh, he's a workaholic. Oh, you know, he has no work-life balance. You know, that's unhealthy for you to be working that much. Why? Why is it though? Because if I was a professional athlete, you would think I'm so dedicated, right? But because it's about work and you don't like your work or whatever the reason may be, you think it's unhealthy. Now I do get that there's unhealthy levels of that and you do need to have relationships and all those things, but riddle me that. Please answer that question for me.
