{"id":462689,"date":"2025-12-21T18:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T18:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/462689\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T18:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T18:28:12","slug":"will-i-am-says-work-life-balance-is-for-people-working-on-someone-elses-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/462689\/","title":{"rendered":"Will.i.am says work-life balance is for people ‘working on someone else\u2019s dream’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will.i.am is busy. When he\u2019s not writing hit songs like \u201cOMG\u201d for Usher, he\u2019s looking for the next big pop star on The Voice UK, or running his new AI company, FYI. So how exactly does he balance it all?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Grammy Award\u2013winning artist turned tech entrepreneur revealed to Fortune that he maxes out the 5-to-9 after the daily grind of his 9-to-5, and he advises Gen Zers to forget about work-life balance if they want to emulate his success.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re trying to build something that doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s about dream-reality balance,\u201d he says. \u201cWork-life balance means that you\u2019re working for somebody else\u2019s dream. You just have a job supporting somebody else\u2019s dream, and you want to balance your work and your life.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if it\u2019s dream-reality balance, then it\u2019s not work. It\u2019s a dream that you\u2019re trying to put into reality, and you\u2019re ignoring your current reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, after working on his tech venture from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Will.i.am says that he goes back to work on his creative business until 9 p.m. But before his AI company was a reality, his day was flipped. He\u2019d work on music first before dipping into his tech side hustle well into the evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why he advises young people to reframe how they think of their time off work and their current 9-to-5 reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really paying attention to this reality,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019m 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 materialize it? So for that, you have to make some type of sacrifice to bring this thing that doesn\u2019t exist here.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that perspective, work-life balance is not for the architects that are pulling visions into reality. Those words don\u2019t compute to the mindset of the materializers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will.i.am doesn\u2019t even take time out for his birthday\u2014and goes to work in China on Boxing Day<\/p>\n

Of course, many young people already put in hours to their side hustles and personal development after work. Millions of Gen Zers and millennials are tuning into people\u2019s 5-to-9 evening routines on TikTok<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Will.i.am says chipping away at your dream when most people are off work extends to weekends, birthdays, and holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t party. I was always a square, meaning, \u2018You work too much, man, let\u2019s go out.\u2019 Like what? Go out. I don\u2019t want to go out. I just always worked,\u201d the rapper says. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0your birthday what are you gonna do? Work. You ain\u2019t gonna celebrate?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The multimillionaire says he\u2019s always saved the celebrating for the stage, where he can finally enjoy the fruits of his labor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that\u2019s ever gonna feel that glorious than when you\u2019re actually at a festival. But how do you get to headline a festival? You\u2019ve got to work. My friends would go out and party, hanging out with chicks, doing drugs, drinking. I was just in the studio working, writing songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

To this day, he says that he hasn\u2019t gone out and celebrated a birthday\u2014including his most recent one, which was just last week on March 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike on Christmas for the past 12 years: I could celebrate Christmas with my family, and then on the 26th, I fly to China because that\u2019s dream maker heaven. Anything you want to make is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will.i.am was speaking to Fortune in Rome for the rollout of Raidio.FYI radios in Mercedes-Benz cars.<\/p>\n

Will.i.am\u2019s daily work routine <\/p>\n

7 a.m.: <\/strong>Will.i.am is not a part of the CEO-approved 5 a.m. club. Instead, he told Fortune he wakes up at around 7 a.m., and he sticks to this routine whether he\u2019s living in L.A. or London.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8 a.m.:<\/strong> \u201cI walk, do my calls, and get to work,\u201d he says, with the aim to start work at 9 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 a.m. to 5 p.m.:<\/strong> \u201cI get a lot done from nine to 12, do my little lunch, then back to work at one, finish at five, and that\u2019s all my tech, like entrepreneurial activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

5 p.m. to 9 p.m.<\/strong>: \u201cThe night hours are creativity,\u201d he says, adding that specifically between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. is when he gets the best ideas. \u201cThat\u2019s the juicy bits, [when] I\u2019m freaking soaking in emotion, to where I just rinse it out in the phone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

9 p.m. onward: <\/strong>When Will.i.am was in his late twenties, he says going to sleep at 4 a.m. (and waking up at noon) was the norm. But now, at 50 and balancing both his tech and music ventures, he starts unwinding for bed after 9 p.m. and is asleep by 11 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A version of this story originally published on\u00a0Fortune.com<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0March 23, 2025.\n<\/p>\n

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit <\/strong>May 19\u201320, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here\u2014and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world\u2019s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now<\/a>.