Two people debate a 30-day challenge of 10-12 hour workdays, using China's 996 schedule as a reference. One argues intense effort proves resilience; the other agrees initial push matters but warns against permanent hustle, saying business should create freedom, not endless grind.
Chapters
If you've never worked for 30 days straight, I would encourage you to try it. In China, there's something called the 996, which is basically the standard for Chinese tech work hours, which is you work 9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week. That's the bar. And so I like to state that because we think we work so hard. That's just the average. And so I would encourage you, remember, hard times, hard men, right? Good times. Well, we need to act as though it's hard times, because if you don't, you're surely going to become soft. My challenge for you is work 30 days straight. Work 10, work 12 hours a day, 30 days straight. What you will realize at the end of this is, one, how much work you can actually do. Two, that you're not gonna die. You're not made of glass. And third, you'll know that you have that gear if the time calls for it. I think it's true.
Like, you got to put— you got to put the effort, right? And I like to think of it like an airplane coming out of taxi. Right? When the airplane's coming off the ground, it's a massive effort, massive effort to get it off the ground. But once it's in the air, once it's at cruising altitude, there's very little energy that's required to keep it in flight. And so if you're at a place in your agency right now where you're not making as much money as you want or you're not living the life that you deserve, you're probably in that getting the plane off the ground phase and you're going to have to work extra hard. But I don't want you to buy into the hustle culture where you feel like you're going to have to work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. Week and never rest because we, we run these businesses to make money, but also to have freedom, right? And if you ever find that balance where you're able to take the travels, to do the things you want to do, to invest the time with your family, then it's really not worth much. So work hard at the beginning, but always be thinking about how you can eliminate that effort as you get into momentum.
