It’s no secret that Gen Z often gets flak for being “lazy.” From TikTok trends like quiet quitting, bare minimum Mondays, and “lazy girl jobs,” to the Gen Z CEO who defended working from her bed, the generation has developed a reputation for applying minimal effort. And the Egyptian astronaut Sara Sabry has noticed some of the same habits among young workers.
“I see a lot of young people now—they’re wanting to take the easy route without working so hard,” she exclusively told Fortune. “But the truth is, you have to make the sacrifices. You have to put yourself through a lot of discomfort.”
Sabry knows what it means to lean into discomfort. As the first Egyptian astronaut—and the first Arab and African woman in space—her career has been shaped by brutally early mornings, periods of total isolation, and even digital detoxes from social media to toughen her mental focus.
Even now that she’s made it, the millennial is still pulling 13-hour days and juggling 3 jobs plus a PhD in aerospace engineering. And she has a message for the younger generation of work-life balance enthusiasts: Success doesn’t come to those who stay in their comfort zone.
“Especially Gen Z, whenever they start feeling discomfort, they stop,” she said. “We millennials know that there’s no such thing as work-life balance. My career is my life, my life is my career. I would never be at peace if I wasn’t working so hard.”
