How Elon Musk Works 80 Hours a Week Without Burning Out
Elon Musk works 80 to 100 hours a week. On paper, that sounds punishing — a grind few would willingly choose. But to Musk, this schedule isn’t a sacrifice or a heroic feat. It’s a strategy. A deliberate way of living and creating that keeps boredom at bay and energy high.
Behind the public image of an obsessive entrepreneur lies something more nuanced. What enables Musk to sustain this rhythm isn’t superhuman endurance or some mystical genius. It’s a carefully engineered variety of tasks — combined with a subtle, intuitive management of mental energy throughout the day.
The key: Never do the same thing for too long
When people picture an 80-hour workweek, they usually imagine an endless slog of back-to-back meetings and email marathons. But Musk’s days are anything but monotonous. He constantly switches between types of tasks, contexts, and mental modes.
He might start the morning with interviews or urgent decisions. Late morning, he’s in deep technical dives with SpaceX engineers. By afternoon, he’s on the factory floor or in high-level meetings at Tesla. In the evening, he tackles emails or works solo on strategic thinking. Along the way, he might approve a design, speak at a conference, or handle hiring decisions.
This constant shift in mental context keeps him stimulated, helps avoid burnout, and allows him to match the right type of energy to the right task.
Matching task types to mental energy
Your brain doesn’t function the same way at 9am as it does at 9pm. Musk seems to grasp this instinctively, even if he doesn’t articulate it in those terms. His days are structured to ride the waves of mental energy — not fight them.
Morning: High mental clarity → strategic calls, media interviews, candidate meetings
Midday: Focus still strong → technical reviews, deep problem-solving with engineers
Afternoon: Energy dips → in-person interactions, informal feedback loops, factory visits
Evening: Fewer distractions → emails, solo work, long-term thinking
This logic can apply to anyone. When you recognize your own peaks and dips — your creative hours, your analytical sweet spots, your social or introverted phases — you can design a day that flows with your biology instead of against it.
Sponsored by Subletter.io
⏳ 24 Hours Left: Get $5,000 in Ad Credits for Just $500
Time is almost up.
Tomorrow, this deal disappears — for good.
We’ve built the most powerful platform to sponsor over 1,500 newsletters and reach tens of millions of highly engaged readers. To celebrate our launch, we offered new advertisers an insane deal: $5,000 in ad budget for just $500.
Thousands of businesses have already jumped in. But now, the launch period is ending.
This is your last chance.
In 24 hours, the offer is gone. No extensions. No exceptions.
If you're serious about growing your business through high-impact newsletter sponsorships, now is the time to act.
👉 Claim your $5,000 in ad credits now
Don’t wait. Tomorrow will be too late.
Elon Musk’s Hidden Productivity Secret: Working Without Boredom
How to enter a deep flow state by cycling through different types of tasks
What if your procrastination wasn’t a lack of willpower — but a mismatch between your tasks and your mental energy?
What if boredom — that subtle killer of productivity — stemmed from the fact that you're never truly in "flow"?
In this article, we break down how Elon Musk structures his days to maximize time in flow — that elusive state of deep focus where work becomes effortless, natural, even enjoyable.
Flow: The underrated key to high performance
First described by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow is a state of complete absorption in a task. Time disappears. Focus intensifies. Output increases.