It's a small percentage of people who do the 80-hour-a-week

Hear, O seekers of truth, the stark words of Jordan Peterson: “It’s a small percentage of people who do the 80-hour-a-week high-powered career thing, and they’re almost all men. Why? Well, men are driven by socio-economic status more than women.” In this saying he names an ancient truth about ambition, sacrifice, and the burdens of labor. He reminds us that the pursuit of status has long been the consuming fire of men, while women have often been bound by other measures of life and worth.

For the 80-hour-a-week career is no gentle path. It devours time, family, and leisure, demanding nearly all of a person’s life. Few are willing—or able—to endure such relentless toil, and those who do are most often men. Why? Because Peterson sees that men, across history and culture, have been driven to prove themselves by climbing the ladder of socio-economic status, measuring their value by wealth, achievement, and rank.

History bears this out. In the age of industrialization, men flooded the factories and mines, working impossible hours not merely to survive but to gain dignity, recognition, and the hope of rising higher. Many died young, their bodies broken, but still the hunger for status drove them on. Women, though they too worked, were more often chained by expectation to the hearth, where their worth was measured not in wealth, but in care and continuity. Thus the lines of ambition were drawn, not always by choice, but by the forces of culture and survival.

Yet there are exceptions that illuminate the truth further. Consider Madam C.J. Walker, who in America rose from poverty to become the first self-made woman millionaire. She worked tirelessly, not for recognition from men, but to build independence for herself and opportunity for others. Her story shows that when women do choose the grueling path of high-powered careers, it is often not for status alone but for liberation, legacy, and the uplifting of others.

Therefore, O children of the future, let this be your wisdom: the hunger for status is powerful, but it is not the only measure of greatness. Men may burn themselves in pursuit of titles and riches, while women, less bound by that hunger, may carry other forms of wealth—community, nurture, endurance. Peterson’s words are both observation and warning: that the sacrifices demanded by ambition are immense, and that to chase socio-economic power alone may gain the world yet cost the soul.