You, too, can work 130 hours a week if you plan when to take a shit

[Hamilcar]

http://gizmodo.com/marissa-mayer-you-too-can-work-130-hours-a-week-if-y-1784822446?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Marissa Mayer: You, Too, Can Work 130 Hours a Week If You Plan When to Take a Shit

Sophie Kleeman

According to Marissa Mayer, who was Google's 20th employee and its first female engineer, the key to success at the search giant was hard work. Specifically, the kind of hard work that required strategically planned trips to the john.

Speaking to Bloomberg Businessweek for its 2016 interview issue, the Yahoo CEO shared her thoughts on the "Google story."

The other piece that gets overlooked in the Google story is the value of hard work. When reporters write about Google, they write about it as if it was inevitable. The actual experience was more like, "Could you work 130 hours in a week?" The answer is yes, if you're strategic about when you sleep, when you shower, and how often you go to the bathroom. The nap rooms at Google were there because it was safer to stay in the office than walk to your car at 3 a.m. For my first five years, I did at least one all-nighter a week, except when I was on vacation—and the vacations were few and far between.

Beautifully, interviewer Max Chafkin responded with, "Wow." Do you think Google employees ended up synching their bathroom breaks with each other, like women and menstrual cycles?

Besides detailing the level of commitment needed to make it work at Google, Mayer also discussed her future at Yahoo ("I plan to stay. I love the company, and I want to see it go into its next chapter"), the challenges of balancing work life with home life (she recently gave birth to twins), and the surprises that emerged after she took over at Yahoo ("I didn't know how much time I would spend studying things like tax law and forming an opinion on Chinese e-commerce").

I'm still stuck on the bathroom comment, though. If any Google employees are reading this, please, get in touch. I am very interested to learn more about your strategy.

[Valmy]

That is amazing. My productivity would take a nosedive after 60 hours. Amazing one can not only work that much but still be useful doing it. And I guess not throw yourself out the office window at some point.

[Admiral Yi]

130 hours only leaves you 5.4 hours to sleep each night. 

[DGuller]

Working 130 hours a week by itself isn't going to make you successful.  But working 130 hours a week, being in the right place at the right time, and getting under the right person enough times, that can make you golden.

[Hamilcar]

Working 130 hours a week by itself isn't going to make you successful.  But working 130 hours a week, being in the right place at the right time, and getting under the right person enough times, that can make you golden.

This. It's physiologically impossible to be productive for such hours, but there *is* value in *pretending* to put in this much work.

[Martinus]

I hope she is happy with her life choices.

[Sheilbh]

Americans

[CountDeMoney]

Americans

Some Americans.

[Razgovory]

Americans

It is a stupid tendency that often see in the US.  I know computer programs often work ungodly hours during "crunch time".

[garbon]

Americans

It is a stupid tendency that often see in the US.  I know computer programs often work ungodly hours during "crunch time".

We need to start a movement to grant rights to computer programs!

[LaCroix]

That is amazing. My productivity would take a nosedive after 60 hours. Amazing one can not only work that much but still be useful doing it. And I guess not throw yourself out the office window at some point.

good chance she used stimulants

[Martinus]

Americans

As long as it made her happy...

My original comment was not made to be sarcastic. I would most likely not share her enthusiasm for this kind of arrangement, but it is possible her enthusiasm was genuine and she took satisfaction from it. What other purpose is there to life than that?

[CountDeMoney]

Americans

Saw this commercial this afternoon, I thought of you--

https://youtu.be/3H_PCKxTjMU

[alfred russel]

That is amazing. My productivity would take a nosedive after 60 hours. Amazing one can not only work that much but still be useful doing it. And I guess not throw yourself out the office window at some point.

Some people truly love their work; I think that is the difference. Some people are consumed by video games and play them constantly; for some people that same dynamic is at play with work.

[alfred russel]

Working 130 hours a week by itself isn't going to make you successful.  But working 130 hours a week, being in the right place at the right time, and getting under the right person enough times, that can make you golden.

I'm guessing she was exaggerating 130 hours just because there are physical limitations at work. But a really smart person who is so consumed with work she puts in massive amounts of hours is going to be really tough to stop. That doesn't mean she will end up running a major corporation and worth hundreds of millions, but she won't be washing dishes either.