[minimax]

> When you work crazy hours you yo-yo between 20 hour days and 8 hour days that really only have a few hours of productivity (or none at all!)

This would not have made any sense to me until I had actually spent three months working 12-18 hour days (+ Saturdays). Yay for salespeople selling things the company doesn't actually make! It's a really stupid feeling to spend 12 hours staring at your keyboard, getting almost nothing done, and knowing you're going to come back and do the same thing tomorrow.

[aschepis]

and honestly, you probably could have done the job better and faster if you had done 8-10 hours (or less) per day and had enough time to mow your lawn, pay your bills, unwind, etc.

[minimax]

No question about it. Repetitive long hours are deleterious to critical and creative thinking abilities. It always makes me think twice when I see stories about game dev / wall st / startup developers working insane hours. I think the story is better than the reality.