Mr. Musk is blowing up the scene like no one else. It’s safe to assume that any American you ask has heard of him and his accomplishments in the world of all things success. So who wouldn’t want to know how they can become that much closer to being able to be compared to the man who embodies the entire idea of what it means to be motivated?!

Hard work. And a lot of it.

It seems simple but very few people I know (and certainly myself included) cannot say that they wake up at 05:00 AM every morning to be that many hours ahead of the average Joe in the workday. According to Catey Hill at Moneyish, Musk answered a fan question about how he spends his free time. Most people would respond with their favorite book or their favorite movie -- some of us with our physical activity of choice. Musk responded with “I listen to music in the car” as one of the only ways he spends his very limited time spent away from work, making all of us who plan on binge watching Stranger Things on October 27th (yes, I’m counting down the days) feel like total schmucks.

For those people who work 100+ hours a week, simple tasks like showering, eating and even bathroom breaks become a strategic part that needs to be worked into their days. Melissa Mayer is a shining example of how to make a 130 hour work week humanly possible. She even feels that she needs to be strategic in how she sleeps. Now I can only speak for myself, but turning a power nap into a three hour one is never a problem on my days off.

Musk and Mayer are not alone in this punishing work ethic. Mark Cuban, too, is quoted saying that he once “had so many jobs [his] parents wondered if [he] would be stable.”

This handful of brilliant men (and woman) are proof that regardless of what qualities and ideas you bring to the table -- regardless of how naturally gifted you find yourself to be in a particular field -- nobody becomes one of the “greats” without tireless work. There is no substitution for the cold, hard hours spent on work. Take the philosophy that it must take an entire 10,000 hours of practicing a skill to be undeniably great at it as support.

But if you can’t take it from me, then take it from Musk himself, who, when asked in 2013 what young entrepreneurs should do to be successful, responded with “work like hell."