In theory, Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, should be proud to have helped create a world-famous entertainment giant. This is undoubtedly the case, but it is not, by his own admission, his main reason for satisfaction in life.
Finding the right balance
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), the manager explained that his main success is not having sacrificed his personal life to the detriment of his professional success. He is therefore delighted to have been able to see his children grow up and to have spent quality time with his wife, while also preserving time for hobbies that were close to his heart.
The entrepreneur notably has a ritual that he would not give up for anything in the world: Tuesday evening meetings with his partner:
For over 30 years, I had a strict Tuesday limit. Rain or shine, I would leave at 5 p.m. sharp and spend the evening with my best friend.
Of course, this hasn’t always been easy to achieve. In a publication on Substackthe executive explained that he broke this rule when he launched Netflix with Reed Hastings in 1997. He then went home to eat very quickly and returned very quickly to work.
Although the balance between professional and personal life is not always easy to find, Marc Randolph urges us to never feel guilty if we do not achieve it every day. And the business manager concludes: “The important thing is to find your own way to find balance, following the schedule that suits you best”.
Bill Gates’ advice
It is interesting to note that the co-founder of Netflix is not the only entrepreneur to make this type of speech which is becoming more and more common. Bill Gates recently posted on Threads to share this opinion:
It took me way too long to realize that you don’t have to fill every second of your schedule to be successful.
In a podcast, he also added: “In my 30s and 40s, when we talked about sleep, one would say, “Oh, I only sleep six hours.” And the other would say, “Oh, I only sleep five hours,” and then “Well , sometimes I don’t sleep at all.” I was like, “These guys are so good, I need to try harder because sleep is lazy and useless.”.
To learn more about Bill Gates’ vision, you can reread our dedicated article here.
