How long can the body/mind handle 80 hour work weeks?

[Ns1]

A year maybe 2? Unless you're an older immigrant, in which case <80 hours/week = you're a pussy?

Depends on the work.

Let's say 2 jobs, one is physical and one is mental.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Depends on the work.

 

[Ns1]

Depends on the work.

Let's say 2 jobs, one is physical and one is mental.

 

[Dirigible]

Much longer than that.

Source: I formerly was an attorney at a big fancy law firm.




Wait, no. I clearly lost my marbles sometime during those years, despite continuing to work and bill huge amounts. So my answer for me is, "I dunno, but less time than it takes to make partner."

(I jumped ship for a more enlightened job while halving my pay and now I'm one of the few happy attorneys that exist.)

 

[lxskllr]

You do what you have to do. If 80 hours is necessary to survive, you do 80 hours. If you're just doing it for 'mo money', you're an idiot.

 

[IGBT]

realize it or not your health will eventually start circling the drain.

 

[Kelvrick]

Public accounting. I do that about 3 months out of the year. About 2.5 months in, things start changing.

But then I have 5 weeks of vacation every year and often am only in the office 6-7 hours otherwise. Makes up for it.

 

[MongGrel]

I used to once upon a time.

I highly recommend avoiding it when you are young.

I feel beat up these days.

Depends what you are doing I guess.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Let's say 2 jobs, one is physical and one is mental.

Still depends. A World of Warcraft gold farmer will probably last longer than an attorney (even if it is the case that the former doesn't have as far to collapse).

EDIT: And fwiw, I've averaged ~80 (with wide fluctuations between 50 and 100) for a couple months and found that I was adapting to it pretty easily. The pain comes in when work calms down and I get used to a 50 hour week, and then need to start working longer again later. A lot of that is also dependent on excitement though; in the beginning of a project it feels great, towards the end when it's just revisions and repeats of experiments for the nth time, it's boring and mentally fatiguing. I doubt I would last a year (or even half of one) at 80/week though.

 

[Man I Suck]

I did 100+ for a few years. I learned to function on 4 hours sleep. I nearly died.

 

[GeekDrew]

I've been doing it for about five years. It's literally killing me. Doctors have been telling me for the last three years that I need to quit before I have a heart attack. heh.

 

[Ns1]

what I'm hearing is, at about the 2 year mark you begin to seriously question your life decisions.

 

[Man I Suck]

It's not worth it.

 

[Artdeco]

I did it for about 6 months, money was flipping awesome, but I burned out and my attitude went to shit.

People I know that have done it longer have developed serious health problems.

 

[DigDog]

i did 10 hours semi-physical work (restaurant work) every day 7 days a week, plus the accounting after closing. around 80/w all in all, managed to go on for 6 months before the slump, i then had to cut to 50-60 because i'd become so unproductive on 80 that i got less stuff done than on 50.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Longer than is healthy. Your attitude begins to suffer first. Your works suffers next and, finally your customers suffer. It's simply not worth it.

 

[Ruptga]

I've been doing it for about five years. It's literally killing me. Doctors have been telling me for the last three years that I need to quit before I have a heart attack. heh.

So you're holding out for that Darwin? I don't think they give them out for slow suicides.

 

[Mai72]

I met a guy who said he worked 100 hours for 12 years as a manager for Burger King and another fast food restaurant that I can't remember.

He is talking complete bullsh*t. As a manager you have so many responsibilities that it would be nearly impossible to work 2 jobs at 100 hours. As a manager you need to take care of payroll, the schedule, customer complaints and anything else that crops up at a moments notice. So if an employee suddenly calls out, as a manager you need to find someone to take their place. If you can't find someone, as a manager you need to fill the spot. Plus, he doesn't have the nicest attitude, so I can only imagine what his attitude would be like. I know if I don't get enough sleep I can get very cranky. And he supposedly worked 100 hours for 12 years. Yea, ok.

 

[Mai72]

what I'm hearing is, at about the 2 year mark you begin to seriously question your life decisions.

Well you can't enjoy the money when you're pushing daisies.

Your children and ex-wife will enjoy it though!

 

[SSSnail]

Don't know, and don't want to find out, ever.

 

[lupi]

if all you life is doing is the work then sleep eat, it won't have any negative effect (assuming it's a job you enjoy or the mental impact would be immediate).

if you are trying to have some life outside of work, then it's going to be tough to maintain sooner than later.

 

[brianmanahan]

i made it about 8 months, and realized i was getting to the breaking point when nothing seemed to matter to me anymore

if i got fired? awesome, my life will be better now. if i got in a car crash? sweet, maybe i wouldn't have to work for a few days!

once i realized what i was thinking, i realized i needed to get another job immediately

 

[Jeff7]

Longer than is healthy. Your attitude begins to suffer first. Your works suffers next and, finally your customers suffer. It's simply not worth it.

But the employer can get a new worker once you've been used up, right?

 

[njdevilsfan87]

As someone who has been probably averaging ~65 hours a week worth of work since January so I can defend my dissertation in May, I can say that my mind cannot handle 80 hours. I'm already exhausted and just ready to turn it all off for a month after I defend and submit my dissertation next month.

My advisor has been a real hard ass, and just overall difficult to work with, but I am going to end up with well above average rate of publications in the years it took me to get my PhD (like ~9 or ~10 in 3.5 years - I really don't know or even care anymore) because I was pushing and even broken beyond my limits, but I cannot do this long term. I've already broken down once and had to leave the university for 6 months (went to work for a government lab where I was just as productive working ~40 hour weeks in a nearly stress free environment) and it recharged my batteries so I could finish up. I was really considering not returning to the university at all, but I saw I had the energy and figured I give it one last hard push. Now it looks like it might pay off. But as soon as I'm done, I'm done. I have no interest in sticking around academia being a part of some ridiculous publications count competition that results in an abuse of graduate students. I've seen how it has affected me first hand, and I will never ever be that type of manager (and no I'm not going to do the complete 180 because I've seen how that can be even worse).

 

[Ns1]

this....does not bode well for me.