"There is no balance..." Shark Tank star Mark Cuban on why work-life balance doesn't exist

Billionaire investor and

Shark Tank

star Mark Cuban has rejected the concept of

work-life balance

for ambitious professionals, arguing that true success requires round-the-clock dedication and sacrifice."There is no balance," Cuban told

Dallas Cowboys

linebacker

Micah Parsons

during a recent episode of Sports Illustrated's "The Playbook" series. "People are like, 'I need a work-life balance.' If you want to work 9-to-5, you can have work-life balance. If you want to crush the game, whatever game you're in, there's somebody working 24 hours a day to kick your ass."The former Shark Tank investor, worth $5.7 billion according to Forbes, practiced what he preaches during his early entrepreneurial years. Cuban revealed he "didn't take a vacation for the next seven years" after launching his first technology company,

MicroSolutions

, at age 24."I was broke as f-ck, where else was I going to go?" Cuban explained, describing his living situation at the time as sharing a "nasty" three-bedroom apartment with five roommates.

Cuban's extreme work ethic paid off with multi-million dollar success

The intense focus proved profitable. During those seven vacation-free years, MicroSolutions grew to over $30 million in annual sales before Cuban sold the company to H&R Block for $6 million."If I took the weekend, the whole thing could fall into the sh-tter," Cuban said, explaining his decision to work every day without breaks.Cuban's philosophy extends to modern workers, particularly in the AI era. "If I was 16, 18, 20, 21 starting today, I would spend every waking minute learning about AI," he said at

SXSW

earlier this year. "Even if I am sleeping, I am listening to podcasts talking about AI."When Parsons expressed his desire to work "non-stop," Cuban responded supportively: "That's not a sacrifice. That's doing you. Not doing it would be a sacrifice."His message remains consistent across platforms, including through his AI chatbot launched with MasterClass: "Work your ass off, learn everything you can, and stay adaptable."