Hey Reader,

Your phone lights up at 10pm. It's your work email. Someone on your team has a question about the project. From the small preview of text, you figure it might take 10 minutes to answer. Possibly longer if they reply again that night. You're already tired. You came home late after staying to get more work done at the office. Made it home just in time for the tail end of dinner. Tried to stay present with your family during the evening, but your mind kept going back to work. You're already thinking about it as you get into bed. What's one more email, right?

At some point, most of us absorbed the idea that staying available is a sign of commitment. If you respond to messages fast, you're on top of things. If you can put out every fire that comes your way, you've got the makings of a great leader. Nobody told us directly that being visible at all times is what success looks like, but for a lot of us, it became the hidden marker anyway. We may have seen it in former leaders or mentors. We might have seen people who worked that way get rewarded, with high-profile projects or promotions.

And for the most part, it works. I’ve spoken with many leaders who have had at least one stretch in their careers where they pushed harder, gave more of themselves to the work, and were recognized for it. But there’s a part of the story that doesn’t get talked about: The point at which more hours stops producing more value.

I’m going to be a little nerdy for a bit: John Pencavel, an economist at Stanford, studied the relationship between hours worked and output using data from British munitions workers. Working weeks ranged from 24 to 72 hours. When people worked roughly 49 hours a week, output was broadly proportional to hours worked. Beyond that, each additional hour produced less than the one before. Beyond 60 hours, very little additional output was produced to justify the extra time.

Of course, our work looks different from a munitions factory, but the underlying dynamic is the same. A huge part of what we do is cognitive. We make judgment calls, read situations, and have to stay calm under pressure. All that work requires our energy. A decision made at the end of a 12-hour day and a night of poor sleep is going to be very different to a decision made when we’ve given ourselves time to rest.

And the more mental energy we give to work beyond the point that it’s useful, the less we have for what we value outside of it, and that creates its own spiral. The guilt of not being present at home. The sense of falling behind at work despite the hours. The fatigue builds until we don’t feel at our best in either area.

I’m not saying all of a sudden, you need to stop working hard. Instead, I’m asking us to think about the difference between signaling commitment and creating value. And the solution is often setting firmer boundaries.

“But Clif,” I hear you say, “it’s just not that easy for us!” Well, there are some organizations in the U.S. that have pushed back on this idea of “visible = valuable.” California proposed right-to-disconnect legislation back in 2024 that would allow workers to ignore off-hours messages without consequence.

Exos, a coaching firm that works with Fortune 100 companies, gave employees more autonomy over their work and introduced stronger protection around focused work. Most meetings are limited to 25 minutes and employees are encouraged to build blocks of dedicated work in their calendar. After six months, 91% of employees felt their time was being used more effectively.

All of this points to something worth taking seriously: the assumption that availability equals performance is starting to be questioned, and the evidence suggests it should be. But legislation and company-wide policies can only go so far. What actually shifts the culture is what happens at the leadership level.

The leaders I've seen do this well aren't less committed than the ones who are online at 10pm. They're clearer on what their time is actually for. They work intentionally during their main hours. And they’re able to be more engaged with parts that matter outside of work. That strong example gives their team permission to put in the same boundaries and be present for what matters to them outside of work.

This week, pick one habit you have around availability or visibility. You might be replying to emails late, never leaving on time, or always online on Teams. Ask yourself honestly: Is this producing better work, or is it producing the appearance of commitment? And then, once you've sat with that question, try something simple like leaving on time for a week. The world isn't going to fall apart. Most likely, people won’t even notice. And you might find that what you thought was commitment was just habit.

What does high performance look like when you’re leading well? Hit reply. I'd like to hear about it.

From one human to another,

There are five traps that keep leaders stuck. Which one is driving you?

Not sure? Take the ​quiz​ to find out which one fits you.

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