The Silicon Valley “rise and grind” mindset has, rightfully, become a joke to anyone paying attention. The people involved seem to be the only ones left who aren’t in on it.

For example, a post on X recently went viral that declared that an “investor” met a “founder” who claimed that she “taught herself how to lucid dream so she can solve important work problems in her sleep.”

“It’s working though, she recently raised tens of millions of dollars and hired a few dozen people,” the “investor” wrote. “San Francisco is known for 996 but in New York we’re 24/7.”

While this person got rightfully roasted, what was missed is that Silicon Valley folks have been bragging about their supposed ability to do this for a long time.

Us normals might not know this, but the whole “you should still be thinking about work in your dreams” is considered practical advice within certain tech circles. In a list of “life hacks to master by the age of 35,” Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock wrote that one should “Do work in your dreams,” telling readers to repeatedly prompt their brains with tasks like “Make X process more efficient” or “Find a way to make X more dollars” before they drift off into slumber.

Another “mindset” poster, Ben Meer offered similar advice, writing, “Give your mind an overnight task. Upon closing your eyes, give your mind a job. ‘How might I make an extra $1k each month?’” He attributes this advice to LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman — which means there’s yet another Bay Area psycho who genuinely believes this nonsense.

So, do you really need to dream about work in order to succeed? Well, I guess we’ll see after the AI bubble pops — if any of these “founders” lose their entire companies overnight, it’s probably because they didn’t dream hard enough!