Despite how much you might want to succeed, consistently working beyond 40 or 60 hours a week is going to degrade your productivity below the level you would ac

Despite how much you might want to succeed, consistently working beyond 40 or 60 hours a week is going to degrade your productivity below the level you would achieve with 40 hours a week. There are several factors - You make more mistakes - You have trouble applying yourself - You loose the ability to think creatively, so you don't see solutions - You don't make the intuitive leaps that used to save so much time - You stop coming up with as many great ideas The best way I know to reduce this effect is to make sure you spend your leisure time doing productive business stuff. Network, discuss business plans, email, twitter, blog, research - just don't expect to do any one thing (code for example) 60-80 hours a week for months and not get bitten on the ass by your own exhaustion.