Risky. I did it. I definitely cannot do it anymore. It's reasonably likely that it would literally kill me. I don't know for sure that it caused my later serio

Risky. I did it. I definitely cannot do it anymore. It's reasonably likely that it would literally kill me. I don't know for sure that it caused my later serious health problems, but I do know that the incurable chronic illness that knocked me completely out of the workforce for a couple of years is statistically more likely to occur in (1) people who exercise unusually hard for an extended period and (2) people who work unusually long hours for an extended period. I did both. I went to work at Apple in 1988. Within a year I was working on stuff I was extremely interested in, and motivated to work hard on. I started putting in quite long hours. In 1991 or so I joined the Newton team and was even more motivated. Meanwhile, I also owned and taught in a martial arts studio where we learned complicated formal sequences, sparred every day with hard contact, and maintained a grueling conditioning schedule. Until I joined the Newton team I was in the studio teaching or assisting five hours a day, six days a week. I cut back a little when I joined Newton. For two years my daily schedule was up between 5 and 6 AM and into the office for coding. Off to the studio at 5PM most weeknights, back at the office after 10. Home to bed sometime between midnight and three. Up at 7AM Saturday for the studio, and off after 1PM. On Sunday I rose at about 9 and took my family to brunch, then went home to sleep the rest of the day. I liked it at the time. I was very strongly motivated both by the Apple work and the martial arts activity. What I learned in the long run is that hellish work is not less hellish merely because you enjoy it. The enjoyment simply conceals from you what you're doing to yourself. I don't expect my reports to persuade anyone. The same thing would not have persuaded me. I could even be wrong: you could be the rare superhuman ultraworker, able to thrive in circumstances that would grind most people to paste. On the other hand, I thought that was me, and it didn't turn out to be true. In the clear light of hindsight I don't know why I was ever foolish enough to think it was. Garden-variety motivated reasoning, most likely.