Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a reputation for being obsessive. He’s a workaholic who doesn’t take vacations, and his undying commitment to his career has driven him to a life filled with “great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress,” he tweeted in July 2017.
Recently, the self-made entrepreneur has been so stressed about the production of the Model 3 sedan that he’s essentially been living at the Tesla factory.
And last week, he showed “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King the sad excuse for a couch he’s been crashing on. “Last time I was here, I actually slept, literally, on the floor, because the couch is too narrow,” he told King while giving her a tour of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. “It’s terrible. It’s not a good couch.”
After the CBS segment, a viewer named Ben Sullins launched a GoFundMe campaign to buy a more comfortable couch for Musk, a man worth $19.5 billion. The campaign initially set out to raise $1,000. As of Wednesday afternoon, over 400 people had donated, and the amount had surpassed $5,500.
“Elon Musk is transforming our world to run on sustainable energy and use sustainable forms of transportation,” Sullins wrote on the GoFundMe page. “As a community, we cannot let this stand. Let’s band together to buy Elon a new couch to sleep on!”
According to the GoFundMe page, if Musk doesn’t respond via Twitter within three days of hitting their goal, the money will be donated to charity. As of Wednesday, Musk had not responded.
Musk certainly isn’t alone among ambitious, high-performing leaders who sacrifice their sleep and health due to the belief — whether spoken or unspoken — that working to the point of burnout is the key to success. But with so many people paying attention not only to what he builds but how he works, here’s hoping he’ll see that one of his biggest opportunities is to show that it’s possible to innovate and also take care of yourself.
So go home, Elon. Quit sleeping at the office.
You might also like:
3 Creative Sleep Technologies to Improve Your Sleep in 2018
How Does Gayle King Manage Her Absurdly Challenging Sleep Schedule?