With just a shovel
If you want to prove how hard of a worker you are, you can do what this guy did. Apparently, he was texting his mother about setting up an in-ground pool but had to wait for the excavator. Instead of waiting, he decided that he and a buddy would use their own two hands and start working.
The image shows two guys and a single shovel and wheelbarrow inside of a massive hole in the ground. How long would it take to dig that much earth out of the ground with simple tools? A year? Two? For these guys, this picture suggests that it took them a couple of hours.