The Night 80 Hours a Week Caught Up to Me

It was 11:57 PM on a Tuesday.

The office was quiet, the lights were harsh, and my laptop screen felt like it was burning my eyes.

I’d been sitting in the same position for hours, half-working, half-staring, telling myself I just needed to “push through” one more thing.

For months, that had been the routine.

Long days.

Late nights.

Weekends that weren’t really weekends.

And the worst part is, I wasn’t even embarrassed about it.

I was proud.

I’d been repeating the classic founder line like it was evidence of commitment:

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

I genuinely believed that the harder I worked, the safer the business would be.

As if exhaustion was the price of success.

As if burnout was proof I wanted it badly enough.

But that night, something small happened that made me realise how wrong I was.

The Scenario: “Why Can’t I Think?”

I had a client call. Nothing dramatic.

A normal conversation about next steps.

And halfway through, they mentioned something simple — a detail about their project I knew well.

Except… I blanked.

Not a “let me double-check that” blank.

A complete brain-freeze.

I couldn’t recall something I would normally remember instantly.

I tried to play it off professionally, but inside I felt a sudden wave of panic.

Because it wasn’t just tiredness.

It was like my brain had stopped functioning properly.

And when the call ended, I didn’t feel motivated to fix it.

I felt empty.

Like there was nothing left to draw from.

What Went Wrong: Hustle Turns Into Failure

That’s what founders don’t realise when they’re deep in hustle mode.

It feels like you’re being disciplined.

It feels like you’re “doing what it takes”.

But past a certain point, the extra hours stop being productive hours.

They become expensive hours.

Because:

• you miss obvious details
• you make avoidable mistakes
• you lose creativity and clear thinking
• you become reactive instead of strategic
• everything takes longer than it should

And the real cost isn’t just quality.

It’s dependency.

Because when the business relies on an exhausted founder to hold everything together… it isn’t stable.

It’s fragile.

The Wake-Up Moment: I Got Ill, and Everything Stopped

Not long after that night, my body forced the issue.

I got ill and ended up out for a week.

And the business didn’t “slow down”.

It stalled.

Because so much of the workflow depended on me being present and functioning.

Not because the team wasn’t capable.

Because I hadn’t built the business to operate without my constant involvement.

That was the real danger of working 80-hour weeks:

I wasn’t building a business. I was building a dependency on myself.

The Realisation: Burnout Isn’t a Badge — It’s a Risk

I started reading about burnout after that, partly because I was trying to justify it.

I wanted to believe it was normal.

But the reality is blunt:

productivity drops hard after a certain number of hours per week (often quoted around 50).

And I didn’t need a study to tell me that.

I was living proof.

My thinking was slower.

My memory was worse.

My decisions were reactive.

And the business was more stressful than ever, despite all the hours.

That’s the moment it clicked:

Burnout isn’t impressive. Burnout is a liability.

If you burn out, the business suffers.

If you burn out, the team suffers.

If you burn out, your clients eventually feel it too.

The Lesson: Working Smarter Beats Working Longer

My problem wasn’t lack of effort.

It was lack of boundaries and lack of systems.

I didn’t need another 20 hours a week.

I needed:

• clear priorities
• a realistic workload
• repeatable processes
• better delegation
• and a proper shutdown time

Not because I wanted to work less.

Because I wanted the work to be sustainable.

Because sustainability is what creates consistency — and consistency is what creates growth.

The Takeaway: Rest Makes You Better at Business

This is what surprised me most.

When I started enforcing quitting times, I expected to feel behind.

But the opposite happened.

I made fewer mistakes.

I had better ideas.

I spoke to clients with more clarity.

I could see problems earlier instead of reacting late.

And I started enjoying the work again.

Which sounds small… until you’ve been operating in survival mode for months.

Proper sleep isn’t just self-care.

It’s operational performance.

Action Step: Schedule Rest Like It’s Part of the Job

If you’re burning the midnight oil every night, don’t wait for your body to force you to stop.

Do this instead:

1) Pick a shutdown time

Choose a realistic time you stop work most days, and treat it like a boundary, not a suggestion.

2) Pick tomorrow’s priorities before you stop

Write down the top 3 things that matter. This removes the “keep working because I might forget” pressure.

3) Protect one block per week for process improvement

Not more work. Better work.

Every time you reduce friction in the business, you reduce the need for hero hours later.

Your business does not need an exhausted you.

Your business needs a healthy, clear-thinking you.