Quantity has its own quality.
Personally, my best working experiences were working twelve hours a day with substantial breaks for meals and exercise. Critically, there was still enough time for a full night’s sleep. I was massively productive and in the best shape of my life.
There isn’t time for anything else though. I have only been able to achieve that level of focus a few times in my career — all of them before starting a family. Now it’s all about efficiency, squeezing the most out of the precious hours I can focus on something.
> I have more aha moments in the shower when I'm working intense hours, not less. My theory on this is that more exposure to the problem space gives the subconscious mind more to chew on.
Yup I can nod to this one. I know the relevant codebases back-to-front (from staring at them for 12 hours a day) so it's fairly easy to visualize implementations exactly and where they'll go and what parts they'll touch.
I do a lot of consulting, and as a result I am often (honestly, almost always) work substantially more than 'full time'
I have more aha moments in the shower when I'm working intense hours, not less. My theory on this is that more exposure to the problem space gives the subconscious mind more to chew on.
I genuinely have no regrets about working a lot as I've found the personal and professional growth to have been very satisfying. I've launched far past most people my age in terms of skill and experience by simply putting in more hours than they have.
Regarding health, it should be noted I don't drink or smoke at all and never did. And my naturally eating habits include zero junk food. I haven't felt any negative health effects from my work/life balance, but I am fairly confident that's largely due to those healthy habits.