Shark Tank investor and millionaire Kevin O’Leary has clear advice for Gen Z founders weighing how to spend their time.

“The worst advice I hear young founders talk about all the time is that they want to work 18 hours a day. How stupid is that?” O’Leary said in a video on Instagramwearing a red, cheetah-print top and floral pants.

The warning comes as everyday workers are increasingly expected work longer hours. the 996 – a 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week work schedule that will be banned in China in 2021 – newly glorified by Silicon Valley. The AI ​​startup Rilla said the candidates don’t bother applying unless they are excited to work more than 70 hours per week.

But contrary to popular belief, working hard doesn’t mean neglecting to take care of yourself, O’Leary said.

“This idea that you can’t sleep, as if it’s good for investors, is nonsense,” he said. Eating well, sleeping, and exercising are “how you optimize,” he adds.

The founder’s mindset

O’Leary’s advice is a notable change for the serial investor, who previously encouraged founders to work as hard as possible to get ahead.

“You either make money or you lose it,” he wrote in a X post in 2024. “If you want to be successful in business you have to work 25 hours a day because someone in the whole world will kick your a** if you don’t.”

O’Leary used to be SPOKE luck that he seeks a “builder’s mind,” which focuses on what needs to be done in the next 18 hours, while drowning out the “noise” of everyday life. He added that he looks for a 1:2 talking-to-listening ratio and the executional prowess of a leader when investing.

Many business leaders are changing their tune and encouraging more balance. Even CEOs, who can rarely unplug completelylooking for time to rest. Insomnia Cookies founder and CEO Seth Berkowitz said luck he takes a two-hour phone break every day. Sami Inkinen, the CEO and cofounder of Virta Health Group, takes a week’s vacation to travel to remote places like the Himalayas, where he can’t be reached.

As CEOs and employees feel the pressure to always be “on” and available for work, “toxic productivity” can cause chronic stress, insomnia, anxiety, depression, and physical health risks, according to Harvard Medical School.

“If you show up dead, I’m not invested. You’re not a hero, you’re a liability,” O’Leary wrote in the video’s caption.