Lucy Guo might be a billionaire, but instead of a life of luxury and comfort, she swears by a relentless work ethic and strict daily routine.

At just 30 years old, the California-born-and-raised entrepreneur has achieved what many will spend their lifetimes chasing. In April, Guo’s net worth soared to $1.3 billion after her first business, Scale AI, wrapped up a deal with tech giant Meta that valued the company at $25 billion. She was named the youngest self-made woman billionaire, a title previously held by pop star Taylor Swift.

“Honestly, I still feel the same as that little girl, like my life pre-money and post-money, it hasn’t really changed that much,” Guo told CNBC Make It in an interview.

Guo co-founded Scale AI, an AI data labeling company, alongside Alexander Wang in 2016. Guo, who headed up the operations and product design teams at the Silicon Valley startup, left the company in 2018.

“We had disagreements around products and sales,” Guo explained. “Where Alex was very sales-driven on bringing in more customers, I was very focused on like ’hey, we need to prioritize the products or helping make sure that scalers [employees] get paid on time, their hours are being counted correctly, but that wasn’t where the resources were being poured in.”

However, Guo held on to her stake, which is worth just under 5%. When Meta agreed to acquire 49% of Scale AI, the deal pushed Guo’s stake to a skyrocketing $1.25 billion.

A serial entrepreneur and a graduate of the Thiel Fellowship program, Guo wasn’t out of the game for long and founded Backend Capital, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage tech startups in 2019. Her most recent company, Passes, a content creator monetization platform founded in 2022, has raised over $65 million in funding.  

Since becoming a billionaire, Guo hasn’t taken her foot off the work pedal. “I am still working very long work days,” she said.

Guo belongs to a category of founders who optimize their days to be as productive as possible, and her newfound billionaire status isn’t an excuse to slow down.

An average day for Guo includes waking up at 5:30 a.m. and going to Barry’s Bootcamp for two workout sessions back-to-back. Lunches are a luxury for the startup founder, and she often eats during meetings as her schedule doesn’t always allow for a break, she said.

“I think most people could have work-life balance if they cut out what most people waste their time on when they get back home, which is, a lot of people doom scroll on TikTok, a lot of people just sit and watch TV mindlessly,” she said.

In the interest of work-life balance, Guo gives herself one day off on the weekends, where from noon to 6 p.m., she’s totally focused on spending time with her friends, and then it’s back to work straight after.

“I think I have more hours in a day because I’m gonna be honest, I’m totally blessed. I don’t need that much sleep…even though I’m working these long hours, I feel like I have work-life balance.

“I could theoretically work until midnight, and then I could go out to the club until 2 a.m., and then I could go to sleep, and then wake up at like 6 a.m. and do Barry’s.”

The young founder embodies the Silicon Valley mantra of working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, similar to China’s infamous 996 work culture, which includes working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.

“9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to me that’s still work-life balance,” Guo commented. “At 9 p.m., you can go to dinner with your friends. You can invite them to a potluck. You don’t need to sleep from nine to nine. That’s a ridiculous amount of sleep.”

“If anyone thinks that’s not work-life balance, I don’t know what to say because you literally have 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. to hang out with your friends, and then you sleep from 2 a.m. to nine. That’s seven hours of sleep, which is more than enough.”

But not everyone agrees with the pursuit of a 996 work schedule. Some founders previously pushed back against the trend, telling CNBC that the views are outdated and unnecessary to achieve success.

An always-on culture decreases retention and creates a revolving door of talent, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, told CNBC.”

Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, added that 996 is about “a fetishization of overwork rather than smart work…it’s a myth.”

Startup founders’ working hours are a much-contested issue. Recently, some venture capitalists were even pushing European founders to step up the work pace to keep up with their counterparts in the U.S. and China.

“In general, when you’re first starting your company, it’s near impossible to do it without doing that [996], like you’re going to need to work like 90-hour work weeks to get things off the ground,” Guo said.

As a company grows, hires more talent, and finds stability, Guo says it is possible to work less later on.

She noted that becoming a billionaire isn’t about intense working hours. If you consistently invest hundreds of thousands into the S&P 500, it could grow to billions by the end of your lifetime, according to Guo.

“I don’t think you need to work those hours to become a billionaire, per se. It’s how you opt to do it. If you opt to start a tech company, you’re gonna be working those hours in the beginning. If you’re like, main method is doing it via investing, you’re not gonna be working those hours,” she said.

Guo’s latest startup, Passes, became embroiled in controversy in February after a class action lawsuit was filed against her and the company, alleging that she distributed child sexual abuse material on the platform to paying subscribers.

“I think it’s a total shakedown. I never met this person, never talked to this person,” Guo said about the lawsuit.

A spokesperson from Passes told CNBC Make It via email: “As explained in the motion to dismiss filed on April 28, Ms. Guo and Passes categorically reject the baseless allegations made against them in the lawsuit, which was only filed against them after they rejected a $15 million payment demand.”

Clark Smith Villazor, the New York-based litigation firm that brought the lawsuit against Passes, has yet to respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

As students head back to school this fall, many parents feel the urge to do more — to book the tutor, add the extra math lesson, or squeeze in one more after-school activity “just in case.” 

The impulse comes from love and wanting our kids to have opportunities. But somewhere along the way, opportunity can turn into pressure.

During my six years of researching hundreds of high-achieving kids, I’ve found that the real engine behind long-term success is believing that your worth comes from your inherent value and your ability to make a positive impact on the world. 

I call it a “mattering mindset.”

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Many young people today are motivated by the fear that if they fall short, they will be less loved or accepted, as if their value hinges on their performance.

In 2021, I partnered with a Baylor University researcher to investigate the impact of achievement culture among young adults. Our survey — which was published in my book “Never Enough” — of nearly 500 students revealed a sobering finding: More than half believed their parents’ love fluctuated based on their performance.

Psychologists call this “conditional regard,” or parental affection that depends on a child meeting certain expectations, whether academic, athletic, or behavioral.

Children raised on conditional regard can become so afraid of mistakes that even minor setbacks can rattle their sense of self. It can erode self-worth, accelerate burnout, and leave them feeling purposeless once the accolades stop coming or vulnerable to depression when they experience setbacks.

We have to help our kids build a mattering mindset from the start. When children know they are valued despite the outcome, they are freed to take healthy risks, to learn from mistakes, to push harder, and to recover faster.

1. Get a PhD in your child

Become an expert in who they are. What makes them light up? What challenges do they hide? What strengths might others overlook? The more we understand their quirks and talents, the more they feel seen for their unique selves. Feeling known and loved is powerful fuel.

2. Remind them their worth is non-negotiable

When your child fails — gets cut from the team, bombs a test — remind them their value isn’t up for debate.

One mother I interviewed uses this exercise: She holds up a $20 bill. “What’s it worth?” she asks. Then she crumples it and dunks it in water. “What’s it worth now?” Still $20. No matter the setbacks, its value hasn’t changed, and neither has theirs.

3. Get curious, not furious

All children want to do well. If they aren’t thriving, take a step back and ask why. Is it an undiagnosed learning difference? A social conflict? A teaching style mismatch? Struggles are clues.

When we express anger over a child’s performance, it can break the parent-child connection. Curiosity preserves your relationship, and is a gateway to clean fuel.

4. Celebrate their ripple effect

Let them know when their actions make a difference. Whether it’s comforting a sibling, brightening a friend’s day, or coming up with a clever solution, take the time to remind them that their value goes far beyond their achievements.

5. Let your face light up

Too often, we’re so focused on preparing kids for the future that we forget to show them the joy we feel simply by being their parent. At least once a day, show warmth and affection regardless of performance. Let them know they are just as cherished on a bad day as on a good one.

If I could offer one piece of advice to parents this fall, it would be to worry less about the grades and more about the mindset you’re helping cultivate in your child — the one that fuels lifelong achievement.

Jennifer Breheny Wallace is an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller ”Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — and What We Can Do About It.” She lives in New York City with her husband and three teens. You can follow her on Instagram @jenniferbrehenywallace.

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Pursuing a STEM degree — which stands for science, technology, engineering or mathematics— has historically paid off well for college students. But earning that credential may require a lot of study time.

Many of the 10 colleges where students spend the most time studying have STEM-focused curriculums, according to The Princeton Review’s most recent rankings.

The publication surveyed students at nearly 400 U.S. colleges and asked how many hours they spend studying outside of class. Students at California Institute of Technology reported the most study time, followed by Harvey Mudd college.

All Caltech students — including English and history majors — complete a STEM-focused core curriculum, according to the school’s website. And notably, the curriculum is “extraordinarily” hard, the college says. Harvey Mudd exclusively offers Bachelor of Science degrees in a variety of STEM fields to its undergraduates.

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Below are the 10 most studious colleges, per Princeton Review’s rankings, along with tuition costs for the 2025-26 school year, according to each school’s website. Median earnings reflect the median incomes of students who started at each school and received federal aid 10 years ago, according to Department of Education data.

• 2025-26 tuition: $65,622
• Median earnings: $128,566

• 2025-26 tuition: $72,699
• Median earnings: $138,687

• 2025-26 tuition: $64,552
• Median earnings: $129,455

• 2025-26 tuition: $71,788
• Median earnings: $62,830

• 2025-26 tuition: $56,910
• Median earnings: $101,253

• 2025-26 tuition: $68,970
• Median earnings: $71,517

• 2025-26 tuition: $54,890
• Median earnings: $66,240

• 2025-26 tuition: $66,496
• Median earnings: $91,410

• 2025-26 tuition: $65,210
• Median earnings: $110,066

• 2025-26 tuition: $64,310
• Median earnings: $143,372

No. 1-ranked Caltech prides itself on its world-renowned science and technology research. Students there “work together to solve the problems of tomorrow, while enjoying great weather,” a survey respondent wrote for The Princeton Review.

Caltech alumni include astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded the first team of astronauts to circle the moon, and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, as well as 17 Nobel Laureates, the school reports. The school was also named the seventh-best university in the world in 2025 by Times Higher Education, which ranks global institutions on their faculty reputations and research contributions.

Though some of the most-studious colleges have rigorous non-STEM programs, STEM majors at any given school tend to spend more time studying than their peers in other majors.

First-year undergraduate students in STEM majors spend an average of 17.1 hours a week preparing for class, compared with 15.6 hours a week on average among humanities, communications and social science majors, according to the 2024 National Survey of Student Engagement.

The survey — which polled nearly 476,000 students at 771 institutions — found first-year students across disciplines spend an average of 15.8 hours a week on work outside of class.

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Much of Rafael Perales’ daily life revolves around his 11-year-old daughter’s education. Considering that the pre-teen is already a college graduate, that’s very much by design.

In May, his daughter Alisa earned two associate degrees — in mathematics and general science — from Crafton Hills College, a public community college in Yucaipa, California, where she matriculated as an 8-year-old. She’s set to start at the University of California, Riverside this fall, studying for a bachelor’s degree in computer science so she can eventually work in the tech industry, she says.

Rafael, 51, left his full-time career as a trial attorney in San Bernardino, California, when Alisa was just 1 year old so the single dad could prioritize and educating her. His career sacrifice is a reflection of his top non-negotiable parenting rule, he says: “Kids come first. She comes before everything, including myself. I’m pretty far down the list of important things.”

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When Rafael initially chose to leave his career, Alisa was already mastering her ABCs and counting into the hundreds, he says. His other child, a now-32-year-old son, was already out of the house and working as a plumber’s apprentice. When he thought about the potential benefits of Alisa receiving one-on-one attention and tutelage from her dad, the choice “became pretty easy,” he says.

Without his law income, the family struggled financially at times. They stayed “afloat” with the rent from a commercial property Rafael owned in Yermo, California, which he’d previously bought with a “modest inheritance” from his own parents, he says.

Even in moments when he worried about paying the bills, he remained certain that fully focusing on Alisa’s education was “the right thing to do,” he says. “I always had confidence that I would find a way to make it, no matter what.”

By age 2, Alisa could read on her own, says Rafael. He home-schooled her until she was 8 — when she completed the coursework required by California to earn her high school diploma — choosing from different curricula and online teaching guides based on her interests and skill level.

As Alisa’s home-school teacher, Rafael worked to establish a regular routine for her, he says — which experts generally endorse as a way to help kids feel more secure while learning and playing. They typically stuck to a schedule of instruction and schoolwork from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., five days per week, he says.

Rafael’s double role as dad and teacher helped keep Alisa focused, rather than ”[goofing] around too much” — but he was also conscious of the need to avoid overworking her, he says. Alisa frequently rode her scooter to friends’ homes in their neighborhood for after-school playdates, and on most Wednesdays, Rafael took her to Disneyland in nearby Anaheim to give her “a release valve” to look forward to each week, he says.

He also incorporated Alisa’s learning into vacations, visiting places like the Grand Canyon or Mount Rushmore to learn about subjects like history and geography, he says. “We weren’t really too different [from a public school] in the amount of studying we were doing. But we were definitely, I think, being more productive,” says Rafael.

Now, Alisa’s future plans look like those of many a recent community college graduate. She’s looking forward to “meeting new people and making new friends” at UC Riverside, traveling around the world and eventually working in the tech industry, possibly running her own startup, she says.

Since she’s still just 11, Rafael intends to accompany her for most of those plans — chaperoning her travel, and if Alisa launches a startup, he’ll likely be her co-founder, she says. She’ll live at home and commute to UC Riverside, and Rafael will wait on campus during her classes, which means he’s unlikely to return to a full-time day job anytime soon, he adds.

“When people ask: ‘Are you going back to work?’ [I say], ‘Yeah, I might slow down and relax and do something like a 9-to-5 again someday.’ But, not now,” says Rafael.

Many parenting experts do caution parents not to completely disregard their own well-being, even when prioritizing their child’s health and development. Those who do risk burnout and a host of other mental health problems, according to the American Psychological Association.

But children in any educational setting can benefit from parents taking an active role in their learning and development, research shows. Kids in regular school environments whose parents who are invested and involved in their education typically show better overall academic performance, according to a 2011 study by researchers from Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Parents who consistently set aside time for hands-on learning activities at home can help their kids achieve higher test scores, and increased motivation and engagement at school, other studies show.

The quality of the time you spend with your kids — whether on educational pursuits or leisure activities — typically matters more than the quantity of time, child psychologist Tovah Klein told CNBC Make It in March 2023. Quality time is a major factor in raising kids who are happy, confident and motivated to succeed, she said.

“It almost always could be said that less is more for children. They just want to be with you,” said Klein, the director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development. “It’s always about the quality of the relationship [and] the quality of the interactions.”

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Amid a slowing economy and stagnant job market, even career experts aren’t sure what advice to give job seekers.

The current market has pushed job seekers and recruiters alike into “truly uncharted territory,” according to Morgan Williams, founder and CEO of professional coaching program PeakHR.

“You can’t rely on tactics that we’ve always done, because we’re in a market we’ve never been in before,” she says. “As much as I can say to do this or do that, it’s really, really important to understand that we are all guessing.”

She emphasizes to job seekers that struggling with unemployment is not their fault: “You can be doing everything and still not get the job,” Williams says.

“This is just a crazy market for both sides,” she continues. “You cannot beat yourself up. You have to be so kind to yourself, because you need every ounce of energy that you have.”

Here are Williams’ tips for navigating the challenges of today’s job market.

Build your network “before you need it”

According to Williams, “a lot of people are networking way too late.”

In general, Williams says, it’s best to work on building your network “before you need it,” but many people only reach out to their connections when they’re on the job market.

If your first interaction with someone is to ask them for a favor, they tend to “feel used,” Williams says.

“Nobody just wants to hear, ’I need, I need, I need,” she says.

Before reaching out to a not-so-close connection, Williams recommends doing some extra research on their career and their current role.  

“Too often, people just blindly reach out and say, ‘I need help with this,’” she says. Instead, “show them how you value their work or why you think this person can even be helpful to you.”

At networking events, don’t spend too much time talking about your own career, she says. Asking questions is a great way to build relationships: “People love talking about themselves, so you should allow them to.”

Don’t overlook alumni groups or volunteer organizations as potential spaces for networking, Williams says. Job seekers often forget that their connections outside of work could help them in the job search, too.

Let go of perfection

Now is not the time to hold out for your dream job, Williams says.

Many companies are offering lesser titles or lower pay than before. To avoid draining their savings, job seekers may have to take any position they can get, Williams says.

“I think a lot of people hold on too long just to have that perfect title,” she says. “We’re not in a market for perfection. We’re in the market to pay bills.”

For job seekers struggling to land full-time roles, temporary and contract positions can be good alternatives, she says.

According to Williams, the current job market requires us to “challenge our norms and beliefs” about work and take advantage of all opportunities.

“This is not the time to put your nose up,” she says. “I think we really have to go into survival mode.”

Take care of your well-being

Navigating the job process can be extremely fatiguing, Williams says.

“There’s an emotional load, there’s a physical load, and there’s a mental load, so you’re going to have to figure out how to take care of yourself,” she says.

It’s tempting to retreat inside the safety of your home, but according to Williams, staying connected with the outside world is crucial for your mental health.

“The biggest thing is to get outside your head,” she says. “You are your own worst enemy.”

She recommends finding a positive outlet like volunteering to pursue during your free time.

“If you have nothing else to do with your time and you feel like you’ve reached your limit, finding a purpose is really important,” she says.

Maintaining your relationships is key, too: while working on job applications, Williams recommends asking friends and former colleagues what they think your best attributes are.

Not only will they give you good material for your cover letter, she says, but their kind words will also put a “pep in your step.”

“I think you need that reminder that you do good work and that you are valued,” she says.

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