The term work-life balance has become a trending topic in India these days. Out of curiosity, I visited Google Trends to see how popular is the term in recent times. Turned out, it is really popular, especially after January 2024. Here is the Google trend result:

What accounts for this sudden surge?
With countries that are developing fast with an aspiration of becoming developed fast, this has been pretty normal, as evident from history. Japan, after world war 2 aspired to become a robust economy and citizens started working harder. Since then, working overtime has ingrained in the Japanese culture.1 Same story for other nations like Korea or China.
For the same reason, some Indian business tycoon conveyed the message of working harder for Indians.2 This has not taken well with many people, expectedly. And since then, the debate of work-life balance has become a trending topic to discuss.
There are multiple aspects to consider in this discussion. While prioritizing work-life balance is important, it is also crucial to recognize the significance of working harder in order to foster a stronger national economy.
So, where should we draw the boundary? How hard are we supposed to work?
Before even diving into this, we must define work. In general, any effort we put to get done something could be called work. Here, “work” refers to a job; an activity requiring physical or mental effort, usually for pay. Work is what we do for a living.
There cannot be a general answer for everyone about how hard they should work. It depends on many parameters that I feel require a deeper dive. Below, I have tried to put forward some of those discussions.
Working Harder and Productivity do not have a Linear Relationship
Let’s assume there are two person Ramesh and Rohan. Ramesh works for 70 hours a week, and Rohan works 50 hours a week.
Who is more productive?
Hard to say. It depends on what kind of work they are involved with and how effective and efficient they are in getting work done. Productivity has no linear relationship with working more hours. What matters more is whether you are doing the rights thing (being effective) and if you can remain focused and finish work fast (being efficient).
On average, most people have a sweet spot where they are most focused and productive. This zone falls between 8-10 hours (with occasional breaks) for most people. After this time, working more has diminished returns.3
Personal Productivity most often looks like the figure below.

The X-axis denotes time (over a week) and the Y-axis output. Imagine working only for 10-15 hours, that is 2-3 hours every day. You will probably only do maintenance work during that time. Increasing working time to at least 30-35 hours per week to allow to work more. Whereas, this much will be enough for repetitive tasks but hardly enough for anything creative and deep work.
Think about freelancers. There may be some freelancers working only for 30 hours every week from some remote corner of the world and earning enough. But if he/she wants to create something impactful, 30 hours is probably not enough. Working to create something novel requires more focus and work as it involves iterative failure and success.
Deep work requires at least 45-60 hours of work. As we approach closer to 70 hours, fatigue starts. Over 70 hours of work mostly become counter-productive. The tiredness makes work counter-productive. Beyond 80 hours is when people reach a stage of burnout.
But is this time-range true for every individual? Are there exceptions?
People with Mission vs Ambition
There are people who work 70 to 90 hours every week and still feel energetic. How to explain them?
I wondered a lot about those few exceptional people. What makes them different and what allows them to work more than most people?
My viewpoint is that how hard you could or should work also depends on the purpose of your work. A normal employee in a company working for 50 hours may feel tired at the end of the week. But the same employee when work for his own start-up can work up to 70 hours every week and may still feel energetic.
What changed?
The purpose of the work. An employee work mostly for making a living. A founder work to bring his creation to the world. For the former, it was more about having ambition of making more money, for the latter it was more about having a mission to bring a positive change in the world through his creation.4
Having a mission in life is the fuel that enables some people to work much longer than the normal human beings. Ambition originates out of desire from ego, mission originates out of purpose from inspiration. If ambition is like a torchlight, mission is like a laser.
One more point worth considering in this context is the lack of control over your time. If your workplace requires you to report every minor detail of your work, you are being micromanaged. This reduces the freedom over your time and you might get tired soon. For the same reason, an employee at a toxic workplace gets tired after working 7-8 hours a day, but a business owner can work 10-12 hours with little fatigue. The business owner has more control over his time.
When Chinese philosopher Confucius said-
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
He probably meant the freedom and control over your time that a fulfilling job offers.
But why only a handful of people pursue a mission?
Ambition is more materialistic in nature, but mission is more spiritualistic in nature. Your family, friends, and people around you can help yo to figure out your ambition. Like which career you should pursue, which company is better to work with, etc. These queries are part of ambition.
But no one can help you with figuring out a mission. It has to come from your inner self deep within you. Your mission is an extension of who you are as a person.
Many individuals live their lives according to the societal norms and expectations of the current time. Following the path of going to school, finding a job, getting married, and so on to lead a successful life. However, if we blindly conform to these standards, whether consciously or unconsciously, we might discover personal goals and aspirations, but not necessarily a genuine sense of purpose.
At some point in our lives, if you look deep within yourselves and reflect on who you are from within when no one is looking at you, how do you want to contribute, how you want to be known after your death, you may one day find your mission.
Only a handful of people find their mission as it is an inward journey, more than an outward journey.
Work is More Than What You Do at Workplace
There are two ways you could look at work. One is what you do at your office or workplace is work. Another is what you do to accomplish or create something, whether at office or home is work.
I love to write. Someone may love to paint or dance or something else. For me, work is a summation of everything I do at the workplace (for me that’s a lab) and time I spend at home to write essays or notes.
If you spend some time every week on a personal project/hobby and do some household chores along with your office work, you easily work over 60 hours a week.
When people talk about work, most often they mean just office work. But what about working at home? We must see everything holistically to decide how should we divide work in office and home.
Imagine you just started a family with a newborn baby. At this stage, how much you are working? Probably more than 70 hours per week (office + work). A baby requires tremendous attention and care. If you plan to work just 70 hours per week at the office, then you will hardly have energy left to play with the child at home.
This stage of life demands more work at home than usual. Thus, it should be completely normal to work fewer hours in the office. Whether your employer will understand is a different debate, but personally, you must comprehend this.
No amount of external childcare support can truly replace the time, energy, and love parents invest in raising children.5 Yet, society often views this vital effort as a “waste” because it diverts attention from conventional notions of work. We must broaden our definition of work to recognize that long, demanding workdays also include the family raising effort.
Countries such as Japan, Korea, and China are currently dealing with this exact crisis. Overwork leaves people in these countries with little energy and passion for raising families. So governments there are encouraging employees to start families by giving extra holidays and perks.6
The answer to the question of how hard should we work is not general and straightforward for everyone.
We must assess our situation in life and decide how hard should we work. However, most people should aim for a 45-60 hour work week, although the ideal number of hours varies depending on the life stage. Some studies suggest that working for over 55 hours every week after the age of 45 increases the likelihood of stroke and heart disease.7
If you are in your 20s, building your career or someone with a clear mission in life, you may want to work longer. A new parent, however, must spend time to raise his/her child and thus office hours should naturally reduce a bit.
Making an impact through your work requires sustained hard work and not just a short bust of activity. You are the best person to decide what is sustainable for you at various stages of life.
References
- Japan’s karoshi culture was a warning ↩︎
- India debate on 70-hour workweek: Illegal or road to greatness? ↩︎
- The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies ↩︎
- Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave ↩︎
- Why parents’ nonstandard work schedules matter for children ↩︎
- Japan introduces flexible work entitlements for parents with young children ↩︎
- Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke ↩︎