Most Americans Wouldn’t Like Being Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the closest thing we have to Tony Stark in the real world. He’s worth 190 billion dollars, has almost 60 million people hanging on his every word on Twitter, and is working on some of the most exciting projects on earth. Space flight, going to Mars, driverless cars, and interfacing our brains with technology. He has a pop star girlfriend, can drive the crypto market up or down with a comment, and hosts Saturday Night Live in his spare time. He’s a 10 out of 10 on some of the things many Americans value the most these days like fame, wealth, and influence.

Yet and still, my guess is that even if you gave the average person the intellectual gifts that allow Musk to do what he does, almost all of them would hate living his life.

Elon Musk typically works 80–90-hour weeks blocked out in 5-minute increments. He sleeps 6 hours per night, often sets aside 5 minutes to gulp down his lunch, and spends “quality time” with his kids when he’s handling emails. With that schedule, it’s n…