• IVAN HUG
  • Posts
  • 30-Year Veteran: The Equation Your Grinding Colleague Missed (6 Months to Medical Leave)

30-Year Veteran: The Equation Your Grinding Colleague Missed (6 Months to Medical Leave)

After 12 years of "crushing it," I discovered the equation that separates professionals who sustain excellence from those who collapse at year 6.

Author

Ivan Hug
October 15, 2025

The answer shocked me.

Elite athletes train 4-5 hours daily. The other 19 hours? Deliberate recovery.

Knowledge workers grind 10-12 hours daily. Recovery? Whatever's left after Netflix.

Your colleague working 70-hour weeks will be on medical leave in 6 months. You, working 45 strategic hours with recovery protocols, will get promoted while they're filing disability paperwork.

The difference isn't discipline or talent. It's understanding that rest isn't downtime from your work—it's where your work becomes excellent.

If you're serious about sustaining peak performance without burning out, you're in exactly the right place. Let's dive in.

Subscribe to our premium content

Become a paying subscriber to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

  • • Subscriber-only posts and full archive
  • • Post comments and join the community