Millionaire Will.i.am says work-life balance is for people ‘working on someone else’s dream’

Rapper-turned-entrepreneur Will.i.am said that he did not even take time off for his birthday on March 15. (Image credit: AFP)

Multimillionaire musician-turned-tech entrepreneur Will.i.am has advised youngsters to forget about work-life balance if they want to emulate his success. The Grammy award-winning artist, who owns an AI company called FYI, told Fortune that not only does he work 9-to-5, he also works from 5-to-9. It's the price one has to pay to make a business successful, he said.

“If you’re trying to build something that doesn’t exist, it’s about dream-reality balance,” Will.i.am told the publication. “Work-life balance means that you’re working for somebody else’s dream. You just have a job supporting somebody else’s dream, and you want to balance your work and your life. But if it’s dream-reality balance, then it’s not work. It’s a dream that you’re trying to put into reality, and you’re ignoring your current reality.”

Revealing what a typical work day for him involves, Will.i.am said that after working on his tech venture from 9 am to 5 pm, he goes back to work on his creative business until 9 pm. It’s why he advises young people to redefine their current 9-to-5 reality.

“I’m not really paying attention to this reality,” he told Fortune. “I’m trying to bring that one [a new business venture or idea] here and focusing on how do I get people who believe in this dream to help me materialise it? So for that, you have to make some type of sacrifice to bring this thing that doesn’t exist here.”

The rapper said that he did not even take time off for his birthday on March 15.

“I didn’t party; I was always a square meaning, ‘You work too much, man, let’s go out.’ Like what? Go out. I don’t want to go out. I just always worked,” he said. “It’s your birthday what are you gonna do? Work."