What’s the maximum you should work in one week?

[How to be wise]

I’ve started working for this private tuition, because it’s a good stepping stone for my life purpose. This tuition, however, wants me to work for 70 hours a week! Is that too much? Shall I take the offer or shall I reduce my hours to 40 hours a week? What’s the best amount of time you should work in one week when you’re starting your life purpose?

[Annoynymous]

@How to be wise i think it is too much.

Specially if you are in the education sector. Recently i have been studying a lot of materials to build up my career.

What i have noticed is that it sucks up my energy quickly. I think i can do more work which involves less mental effort and relatively more physical effort.

I think 40 hours/week is more than enough.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Annoynymous

[Speedscarlet]

I remember @Leo Gura said that if you work over 40 hours a week then you are a workaholic. He also said if you work in the weekends then you are a workaholic. 

I agree with him. Make your life more about just work. Even if it’s your life purpose, it shouldn’t consume so much time. Devote some time to going to the gym, making healthy food and dating. 

[Tanz]

Depends on how much you love your job and if your job is aligned with your highest values.  If you can create a job that you are deeply passionate about then doing 80 hrs a week wont be a problem.  

Look at Tony Robbins for example, hes been "working hard" and is super intense all the time.  He may not be deep and "spiritual" but hes doing good work and gets some regular people to start to work on themselves and eventually they may find people like Eckhart

[Forestluv]

On 11/7/2019 at 2:23 AM, How to be wise said:

I’ve started working for this private tuition, because it’s a good stepping stone for my life purpose. This tuition, however, wants me to work for 70 hours a week! Is that too much? Shall I take the offer or shall I reduce my hours to 40 hours a week? What’s the best amount of time you should work in one week when you’re starting your life purpose?

Ime, 70 hours per week is not sustainable. I worked 70 hours per week at times during Grad. School and during a new teaching job. Yet these were short periods (up to four months). It was a high price to pay, yet the reward was high as well. After a month, mental and physical health consequences appeared and after three months, I was so fried and counted the days until it would end. 

I suppose it also depends on the type of work and how much you love it. If part of the work involves easy-going, relaxing tasks that can help. 

[Edogowa Conan]

@Leo Gura What’s your take on this issue? How much work is too much?

[CreamCat]

On 11/9/2019 at 2:38 AM, Serotoninluv said:

70 hours per week

It can be sustainable if you don't have a family to maintain and if you are internally motivated to do it.

If you minimize other kinds of shit in your life and minimize maintenance, it may be sustainable.

Some mathematicians were known to be internally motivated workaholics.

Edited November 11, 2019 by CreamCat

[Forestluv]

On 11/11/2019 at 9:32 AM, CreamCat said:

It can be sustainable if you don't have a family to maintain and if you are internally motivated to do it.

That wasn’t my experience. I had no wife or kids. I was internally motivated and minimized outside responsibilities and distractions. After a few months of 70 hr work weeks, I started to have mental and physical ailments arise. 

Perhaps other people have better genetics and life conditioning to handle it. Who knows. Yet for me, there was a big price to pay. Yet there was also a big reward for doing it. 

[CreamCat]

7 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

After a few months of 70 hr work weeks, I started to have mental and physical ailments arise.

Perhaps, you didn't exercise and go out? Lack of exercise can lead to problems. Your body needs conditioning, too.

Edited November 13, 2019 by CreamCat

[Forestluv]

5 hours ago, CreamCat said:

Perhaps, you didn't exercise and go out? Lack of exercise can lead to problems. Your body needs conditioning, too.

I was running and cycling several times per week. . . However, there is a likely correlation between people working 70+ hours per week and lack of exercise. This lack of exercise can be an indirect contributing factor. Yet it's all integrated. Working 70+ hours per week is related to not having a well-balanced social life and exercise program. In terms of human wellness, I think it's important to look at individual variables, yet it's also important to look holistically at multiple variables and how they inter-relate. . . If someone is stressed-out working 70+ hours per week, gets no exercise, has no social life and drinks alcoholically for stress-reduction - there are multiple inter-related factors involved in the unhealthy lifestyle. 

I don't think you are considering that working 70+ hours/week can be inherently stressful and unhealthy for the mind and body. It is one variable of many. For example, if someone only slept 5 hours per night, that can take a cumulative toll over several months on ones health. Is it possible that someone can sustain 5 hours sleep per night for years? Sure. Maybe the person just doesn't need much sleep. Maybe they have genetics and prior conditioning that they are a deep sleeper. Maybe a person also does relaxation meditation and doesn't need much sleep,. However, in general, 5 hours sleep/night for months will have a cumulative negative impact on one's wellness. It is one variable of many. Similarly, working 70+ hours per week will tend to have a negative impact on one's mental/physical health. Yet it is just one of many variables and there are exceptions. 

Another factor is if the person knows it is temporary and there is an ending date. If someone knows that they have to work 70+ hectic hours / week for four months and then get a one month vacation that is much easier to handle psychologically. When the going gets tough the person can think "OK, I'm halfway through. Only two months of this and then I get a long vacation". . . If someone is working 70+ hours / week and there is no ending time in sight, it is much much harder to handle psychologically and physically. The person has no idea if and when it will ever end. This uncertainty itself is a stressor and produces anxiety. . . There have been studies in which people undergo solitary confinement. If the person knows when the solitary confinement will end it is much easier to psychologically handle than if the person is in solitary confinement and has no idea how long they will need to endure it. 

[CreamCat]

17 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

I don't think you are considering that working 70+ hours/week can be inherently stressful and unhealthy for the mind and body.

I want to try working 70 hours per week for a week and see if it sticks. One of the major reasons for wanting to try it is to practice unconditional happiness in tough situations. I may sleep for 7.5 hours a day and exercise frequently during the 70 hour workweek schedule.

I'm not going to count workhours, but I'm just going to use 70 hours as a reminder that I should work when I don't need to do other things.

Unconditional happiness and letting go are the two most powerful techniques I learned from Leo's videos. I want to push those techniques to their limits.

Working requires letting go of distractions and some degree of unconditional happiness. If my happiness is conditional on various things going in the right direction, I cannot work many hours because I am going to exhaust my will power very soon. My will power is proportionate to happiness.

Edited November 14, 2019 by CreamCat

[SerpaeTetra]

Just depends on the person.  I know a few people that are addicted to work and have put in 60-80 hours a week for many years.  For others, that amount of work would put someone in the grave after a year or two.  

[Hello from Russia]

Do you define conceptual type of work and admin type of work as work? For example, reading a book on sales\marketing, planning the next week work, outlining a project you're going to do, answering e-mails. Do you count it as work?

This notion of work vs rest is very relative and depends on how you define it. Someone could rest watching some marketing videos yet at the same he is learning something that will help him in his business, it's business and work-related yet I find it hard to just call it work either.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Hello from Russia

[CreamCat]

4 minutes ago, Hello from Russia said:

Do you define conceptual type of work and admin type of work as work? For example, reading a book on sales\marketing, planning the next week work, outlining a project you're going to do, answering e-mails. Do you count it as work?

Yes because they have to be done by anyone anyway. I divide them into deep work and shallow work. You want to minimize shallow work. Deep work revolves around your core skills. Shallow work is usually maintenance.

Edited November 14, 2019 by CreamCat

[Knock]

If reading about personal development on Actualized.org constitutes as work, then I must work 100+ hours a week! 

[RawJudah]

Way too much. 

I work an average of 55 hours a week but I love my job. It’s hard physical work some of the time and the rest I’m either sleeping or learning. It’s good money for my age too.

70 hours a week will catch up with you, you will feel burned out by the weekend. Not a good way to live...