Is it weird to like working 100 hrs a week?

Most people are neither terribly ambitious nor workaholics, and would prefer a comfortable work-life balance over grinding 100-hour weeks at the office. If you're either one of those, then it's no problem. I like working long hours myself (as long as the work is interesting).

LeveredCat:

(80 is not a lot). What do experienced people think about the hours in finance?

Working 80 hours a week is pretty fucking stupid if you ask me, let alone 100.

"(80 is not a lot)"... Almost reads like a troll post.

hardooooooooooooooooooo

you have to do 140 a week here in order to be recognized. I do 100 a week on a slow week around holidays. usually average 150 a week.

Wait until you have a family

yes.

Only if you’re married

I hate myself and I still want to have at least some time to pretend to enjoy life. You’re probably a sociopath.

I feel sorry for anyone who legit likes working those hours. Fuck that shit because life is short and better enjoyed outside any office/cubicle.

If you have no friends, family, or hobbies, yeah sure 100 hours a week is fine, but if you enjoy working that much, you probably haven't explored the rest of life well enough. I like working, but I like other stuff even more.

Just a bit of side advice to the college students reading this.....in college, you need to figure out your career direction, but you also need to figure out what you like doing in your spare time and what you love. Otherwise, you end up becoming an empty workaholic tool or someone whose idea of life is working hard and then slamming a liter of hard liquor in their free time. Discover life and enjoy it.

Find the work you love and what you love when you're not working.

If you account for sleep at just 6 hrs/night, that still means you're stuck in an office plugging away 80% of your time. If you wanted to use 8hrs sleep/night, that's 90% of your time spent working. That's literally not getting anything out of life but work. How can you like missing on everything in life but work? And, if the bank decided to go a different way, they can just fire you and then it would be all for absolutely nothing.

IMO, laws of diminishing return and return on time are heavily relevant to working past 60 hours a week. Very, very few people can work at an optimal pace consistently after hitting past 60-70 hours, especially if it's thoughtful work with open ended thinking.

In fact, I'd argue a person who works 60/week but gets good sleep + exercise can do more than a person doing 80/week if you factor in productivity and tangible results per hour. I'd rather be the person who realizes "wait, I can automate this" than the person who spends the hours grinding and you more often than not need a well rested balanced mind to realize this

Yes it is weird.

Sounds shit. Based on what I've heard from more senior people, you're going to regret this when you're older. If you're seriously happy, there is probably something wrong with you, but whatever floats your boat. I think it's a waste of a life to spend it all working and sleeping.

Plus, if you're working 100h per week you're probably getting paid as much per hour as a burger flipper.

wouldn't u just wanna go home and crank?

There is not a negative attitude towards working long hours if you are not letting your mental health / important relationships suffer as a result of those long hours - it only gets brought up when it causes severe reactions from those doing those hours like in the article you mentioned. Specifically in finance, as you'll see below, I think a lot of the "long hours" are really just wasted hours sitting in the office. A few thoughts below on this general topic:

• The negative attitude towards working 80+ hours in the news comes from people criticizing employers (normally banks...) for forcing/expecting employees to work these hours. I think in general that probably is correct. A lot of my time in banking, especially early morning through early afternoon, was wasted time since senior people did not prioritize work well and would drop it off on your desk at 4-5pm.
• Also, I think this article describing "hustle porn" https://www.businessinsider.com/reddit-alexis-ohanian-hustle-porn-toxic… - I think accurately portrays some of the negative stigma around long hours. There is no reason to just burn yourself out doing non-important tasks. One of my favorite quotes, "there is a difference between motion and progress; a rocking horse makes a lot of motion, but not a lot of progress" is how I like to think about my time spent on work/activities.
• I have many friends that are either in finance, consulting, or entrepreneurs that are happy working 12-14 hours a day, but prefer to take most (or all) of the weekend off.
• To each their own on hours - I'd prefer ~12 hours a days with a few hours on the weekend days and I think I could reach my long-term goals w/a relatively balanced life doing that.

Didn't read any of the responses because the only correct answer is yes, you're a complete psychopath and if you push along the ranks your analysts will have dreams about killing you.

you're a coward if you do anything less than 170/week IMO

Ok wait. To play Devil's advocate, if you truly believe in the vision behind your work and want to solve the problem behind your job, I wouldn't consider it weird.

Plenty of people work 80-100/hour weeks for over 50% paycuts vs the comp we're talking about in finance and actually like it. If you run a startup or work in an early stage company, this can often be the case. If you're at a hedge fund and strive to be the 1% that actually adds value, then kudos to you. 100 hours a week could arguably be very worth it.

80-100 hours is only an inherent problem when you know you don't need to work that much to drive value in your seat but are pressed by external forces to sit there nonetheless

I'm not going to hate - you do you. I'm sure employers would much rather have you than me all things being equal. But my dude, you're mortal, consider there might be something to spend your time doing besides work and "going out."

What is wrong with you?

Why are you on wso? Get back to work lazy ass...

Right now i work probably around 80. But that's because everything after 40-50 is spent building a business.

Nothing wrong working those hours if it is something you are truly passionate about but can't emphasize again you must first and foremost take care of your mental health/personal relationships first.

"Though it’s only the beginning stages of trying to figure out why this happened, I came across a concept, maladaptive perfectionism, that combines unrealistic standards of achievement with hypercriticism of failing to meet them."

https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2018/11/12/big-law-killed-my-husband…

I am currently working 12 hour per day with weekends off, and I seriously dont get how you guys enjoy working more than that.

Monday to friday my life is pretty much: Wake Up, work, gym, sleep with maybe around 1 hour of actual free time.

How do you guys make time for other stuff with e.g 15 hour days?

The term “workaholic” exists for a reason - some people really do have a problem staying away from the desk.

I was and am a renowned hardo among my friends, @LeveredCat" . It has carried me far professionally and personally.

I imagine you’re young and new to the grind. With time I think you will realize there is more to life than just what we accomplish in the corner offices of ivory towers.

I suggest you read the poem “Under Ben Bulben” by Yeats, and the epitaph it concludes with, and really strive to understand the deeper meaning of the poem as a benediction for those who live their lives in pursuit of beautiful art. Think then about what it really means to spend a whole life at your desk clicking merrily away on the client’s deck.

There is joy in work, but folly in fetishizing it.

Never forget:

“Remember Man, as you pass by As you are now, so once was I As I am now, so you will be Prepare yourself to follow me.”

Prepare accordingly.

Buddy you’ve never worked a 40 hour week and you’re sitting here yelling working professionals that 80 is not a lot? Haha, this site gets better and better...

You have no one to impress here, just stop.

Those 100 hour investment banking and research jobs are soon going to go away thanks to technology. Or you will be replaced with someone younger. you may think you are investing this time in your career, but at the end your chance of a payoff are very slim. better off starting your own business and putting in those hours. remember, no one on their death bed every said "i wish i had spent more hours in the office".

Dude you're fine. Just do you. If you truly enjoy the work that you're doing then so be it, work however many hours you'd like and don't let others guilt-trip you into "having a life". If that's the life you want to live then I don't see why you should deviate into the type of life other people model on your behalf.

I think the vast vast majority of people (myself included) live life simply to maximize the feeling of happiness. Even though just like any other feeling, it's fleeting and is directly determined by circumstances and environments. I don't think you should be ashamed or feel weird about living a life with the goal of maximizing achievement or impact. Not saying you're necessarily selfless considering you're on WSO after all, but the world needs those kinds of people every once in a while (ex. Einstein, Tesla, MLK etc.).

Flagged.

Spoken like someone with no experience. When I was a young padawon, I liked the IDEA of working a lot. Now that I am working all the time, it just plain blows.

If you really work 100+ hours a week, you just think about wanting to go to sleep. Hell, I wish I could work out consistently or even (God forbid) go out on a date every now and again without work blowing up on me. It's a fucking curse and we all know it.

Nobody can sustain 80hrs + a week.

If you're working that long over a long period of time, you're either so bad at your job that you can't either a) get anything better. b) complete workload in a normal time.

Neither is something to be proud of.

That's not even counting social life.

I like grinding intensely hard in short bursts followed by breaks where I get to fuck around.

While 100 hour weeks are relatively uncommon for me, 75-80 hour weeks with weekend work are becoming a norm. To be blunt, I fucking hate it because I rarely get to see my friends and it freaks my family out. However, I do like getting paid a nice chuck of money each month.

90 hours a week with one day on the weekend completely off is great. I find that I prioritize my time better and that day off makes time with loved ones special every single time. Plus, working just feels good. What makes working a ton difficult is when there becomes no day off in sight, when weekends meld into Mondays and you can't distinguish between work life and family life. If you can manage to work a ton of hours each week and still keep some days "protected" then I think that's a good way to live life. Maybe not a life I'd want to live forever after retirement, but in my working years I want to be working.

I like to go to the gym. Pretty much impossible to do this with less than seven hours of sleep constantly.

If you have meaningful people in your life it would be challenging to keep them in your life as you literally have no time for them. Certainly would take the right type of mate and friends. Know several that have pulled it off and have done amazingly well (stratospheric!) Most don't as keeping that pace is ridiculous for 99.9% of humans. They either figure out another path to greatness or just decide they don't want "this" anymore.

The key is being honest with yourself. If you love it, great. If you don't great. Just don't try to play the game as that would be miserable.

I think this is not normal. Your nervous system will wear out and you will have to undergo a long course of treatment with a psychotherapist. Would your children like it? I think you should take care.