The question I have, of course, is how does one keeps their mental clarity of working even 70 hours a week over a month? For all the workaholics I've seen, most are not able to do so, lose sight of the big picture, and end up doing worse work than if they'd kept a normal schedule.
I never bothered to count how much I typically work in a week until I read this article.
Usually my weekday schedule goes something like this:
- 1hr in the morning for breakfast and centering for the day
- 8hrs at the 9-5
- 1hr at the gym
- 4hrs on the startup
- 1hr to read, relax, and disconnect
Total work time = 12 hours a weekday. On weekends I'll typically do 10-12hrs on the startup. So ~70-72 hours.
So what helps the most? Good Sleep... and Timeboxing - Focus into an activity and disconnect when your time is up. I make sure my mornings take an hour, don't rush, and relax and center myself for the day. Going to the gym is an awesome energy boost and stress reliever. And finally, similar to my morning, I set aside an hour at night away from the TV, computer, etc. to just relax and disconnect from the day. I need sleep, and this gets me 8 solid hours each night.
On weekends I'll hang out with friends at night and limit any drinking as much as possible. Really though the foundation is a good sleep... if I'm not getting the 8-9hrs I'll scale back everything and get my sleep in order first before resuming the busy work schedule.
