Who You Work with and What You Work on

So let's talk about hard work
There's this battle that happens a lot
Should you work hard or should you not?
You're slave driving people
All the great founders worked their fingers to the bone
And they're talking past each other
First of all, they're talking about two different things
Employees and the lifestyle business, which is fine
Your number one thing in life
If you're doing that is not getting wealthy
If you have a job, you also have your family
You also have your life
But Keith is talking about the Olympics of startups
Hе's talking about the person going for the gold mеdal
Trying to build a multi-billion dollar public company
That person has to get everything right
They have to have great judgment
They have to pick the right thing to work on
They have to recruit the right team
And they have their work crazy hard
Because they're basically engaged in a competitive sprint
So if getting wealthy is your goal
You are going to have to work as hard as you can
If getting wealthy is your goal
You are going to have to work as hard as you can

But hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on

Finding product-market-founder fit
How well you are personally suited to that business
The combination of that three
That should be overwhelming goal
And you can save yourself a lot of time
If you pick the right area to work in
Picking the right people to work with
Is the next most important piece
And then third comes how hard you work
But they're like three legs of a stool
If you shortchange in any one of them
The whole stool's gonna fall down
So it's not like you can pick one over the other that easily
So the order of operations when you're building a business
Or even building your career
Is first figure out, what should I be doing?
What is something where there is a market that is emerging
A product that I can build that I'm excited to work on
And something where I have specific knowledge
And I'm really into it
And then second
Surround yourself with the best people possible
No matter how high your bar is
Raise your bar because you can never be working
With other people who are great enough
If there's someone greater out there to work with
You should go work with them
I advise a lot of people who are looking
At which startup to join in Silicon Valley
The one that's going to have the best alumni network
For you in the future
Look at PayPal mafia, they worked
With a bunch of geniuses so they all got rich
So just try and pick based on the highest intelligence
Energy, and integrity people that you can find
And then finally
Once you've picked the right thing to work on
And the right people to work with
Then you work as hard as you can
Then you work as hard as you can

Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on

This is where the mythology gets a little crazy
People work 80, 120 hour weeks
A lot of that's just status signaling
It's showing off
Nobody really works 80 to 120 hours a week
Sustained at high output with mental clarity
Your brain breaks down
You just won't have good ideas
So really the way people tend to work most effectively
Especially in knowledge work is they sprint
As hard as they can while they're working on something
And they're inspired and they're passionate
And then they rest, they take long breaks
It's more like a lion hunting
And much less like a marathon runner running
So you sprint, then you rest, you reassess
And then you try again

Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Hard work is no substitute
For who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on
Who you work with and what you work on