Codie Sanchez challenged traditional beliefs about hard work and wealth in a recent post, arguing that in the AI era, outcomes—not effort—determine success.

“Success in the age of AI isn’t about working more hours—it’s about leverage,” said Codie Sanchez in a post on X. “Jeff Bezos made $1.7 million in 13 minutes in 2023. That’s over $23,000 per minute. By the time most people finish brushing their teeth, he’s already out-earned their entire shift.”

She added, “The game isn’t about inputs, it’s about outputs. It’s about sprinting the right direction (vector) at the right speed (magnitude) as Brett Adcock says.”

In her full post, Sanchez called the idea that hard work alone creates wealth “propaganda,” noting that if this were true, “we’d have millionaires in every factory and construction site.” Instead, she argued that AI, automation, and leverage have drastically shifted the rules of success—transforming the old 80/20 Pareto principle into what she calls a 99/1 world.

This perspective echoes a broader movement among entrepreneurs who prioritize high-leverage activities, asymmetric bets, and strategic positioning over grind culture. The emphasis is shifting from how hard you work to what you work on—and when.

Codie Sanchez is the founder of Contrarian Thinking and a leading voice in entrepreneurial finance. She teaches people how to buy and scale “boring businesses” as a path to financial freedom, blending sharp economic insight with a contrarian worldview.