Room of Spirit and Time
Hard Work Is Not the Point. But It’s the Price.
In Dragon Ball Z, there’s a place called the Room of Spirit and Time (Japanese: 精神と時の部屋). One year inside it passes as only a single day in the real world. It’s where Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta go to train before major battles — a place to grow stronger, faster.
I wish that place were real. I’d be a regular.
The real world is fair in its own way: everyone gets the same 24 hours. That’s the constraint we all share.
I started young — hawking oranges with my parents after school, on weekends, and through the summer. Since then, I’ve never really had a strong concept of breaks, weekends, or holidays. (To my wife’s eternal frustration.)
At a recent company town hall, someone asked me:
“How can we avoid crunching so much?”
I didn’t have a satisfying answer then. This post is my attempt to give one.
I have a dream.
I want to leave the world better than I found it. Nex is my best shot.
Work shortens the distance between the world we have and the one we want.
So I work. Weekdays, weekends, every waking hour.
This is my life’s work — and I’m all in.
I have a team.
Eighty people strong and growing. Some of my best friends are among them.
The best way to take care of them is to build a strong company.
Stress grows when problems linger. For me, one of the most effective ways to manage stress is to keep chipping away — to keep building, solving, improving.
I have a community.
A growing number of families and supporters believe in Nex.
They share it. Defend it. Root for us.
The best way to honor their belief is to serve them well — to build something worthy of their trust, and to prove the skeptics wrong.
I have role models.
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.”
— Steve Jobs
“I work from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, and I work seven days a week. When I’m not working, I’m thinking about working. And when I’m working, I’m working.”
— Jensen Huang
To anyone who’s built something lasting, working really, really hard is just the baseline.
I don’t want to fail at the fundamentals.
It’s not just a lifestyle. It’s a vow.
To build what I believe in. To carry those who believe in me. To not waste the time I’ve been given.
But I don’t expect everyone to choose what I’ve chosen.
I hope we can start with mutual respect — for each other’s values, rhythms, and responsibilities. What works for me may not work for you.
I know the hours aren’t always easy. But for those who’ve chosen to give this mission a piece of their lives — whether it’s time, trust, or belief — I see you, and I’ll never forget the camaraderie.
In a fast-moving world, I don’t wait for the future to happen.
I work to create it.