Working 9 to 9. Really?!?
Somewhere along the way, working from 9 to 9 became quietly normalised.
- Not officially.
- Not in contracts.
- But in expectations.
Answering emails late at night.
Finishing “just one more thing.
Holding it all together long after your energy has gone.
Working 12-hour days when you’re meant to work 8 isn’t a badge of commitment. It’s a warning sign. And it’s not even effective; it never was.
The Productivity Myth
Let’s be honest about something we rarely say out loud: Most humans don’t have 12 hours of real productivity in a day. On a good day, you might get 5–6 hours of focused, meaningful work.
The rest of the time is often spent:
- Switching between meetings and calls
- Reorienting your brain after interruptions
- Trying to remember what was decided where
- Managing emotional dynamics, not just tasks
- Holding space for other people’s stress while suppressing your own.
This is especially true in HR and people-facing roles. Your work isn’t just cognitive — it’s emotional. And you’re constantly regulating, mediating, supporting, containing. That work is invisible and it’s costly.
When Long Hours Become the Norm
Occasional long days happen, they always had with deadlines and crisis.
But when 12-hour days become a constant, your body as always will keep the score.
It starts quietly:
- You feel tired even after sleeping.
- Your patience shortens.
- Your mind feels foggy.
- Your nervous system stays constantly on high alert.
And eventually, your body will say STOP, which is not always in the way you imagined. It’s the kind of stop you didn’t choose.
- Sometimes it’s burnout.
- Sometimes illness.
- Sometimes emotional shutdown.
- Sometimes a “forced pause” that looks nothing like the holiday you were hoping for.
Kindness Is Not a weak strategy
There’s a belief, often unspoken, that being kind to yourself means lowering standards. I don’t believe that. It means working in a way that your nervous system can actually sustain.
Kindness can look like:
- Ending the day when your capacity ends, not when your inbox does
- Fewer hours, done better and more intentional
- Creating space to recover, not just survive
- Allowing rest without guilt
This isn’t about doing less because you don’t care. It’s about doing what matters without abandoning yourself in the process.
A Question worth asking
Especially if you work in HR, people leadership, or emotionally demanding roles:
🌺How can we champion wellbeing at work if we quietly sacrifice our own?
Maybe the real question isn’t:
“How do I get more done?”
But:
🌺“How do I work in a way that my body, mind, and nervous system can live with?”
Because if you don’t create pauses, your system will eventually create them for you. Not waiting for that holiday to have the break. And it rarely asks politely.
Working 12-hour days isn’t a resilience problem. It’s often a boundary problem, shaped by expectations (yours or others), conditioning, and unspoken pressure.
The work I do with HR and people leaders begins by questioning those limits. Through “KALA FRAMEWORK“, the new program that I’ve created, we explore where “this is just how it is” became a belief — and what becomes possible when it loosens.
You can watch the full video on my Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/PTRKp2Mfqu8?si=cPuk7eYLLWDKAGFA
Because resilience isn’t about enduring more. It’s about reclaiming choice. And sometimes, that starts with giving yourself permission to stop earlier — without guilt.