Working 80-90 Hours per week?

I have been working that amount of time since teenage - let me tell you how.
 

Ages 13–18 was 80–90 (sometimes 100+) hours a week, and ages 18–20 is Probably 70-80 hours (thanks to the inefficiencies of college).

I currently have 46 credits at IIT Bombay this semester (equivalent to 8 courses) which theoretically take 46 hours. Now these are CSE courses so make it roughly 60. But then I'm not that studious when it comes to courses, because of other commitments I find more fruitful, so make it 50.

50 hours a week into coursework - classes, assignments, tutorials etc.

Then I have this social identity (blogging, YouTubing and other side hustles) which is another job I have - ~ 5-10 hours a week. Involves making 2 videos, editing and uploading them, a bit of work on my blog AcadBoost and of course Quora (I count these as work for multiple reasons mentioned elsewhere).

I am also involved in a few more tech projects which make up roughly ~20 hours a week, the total amounting to 70-80 hours. Some of this 70–80 hours is not very productive because some of the classes could be more productive, and there is a lot of inefficiency inherent to college (formalities, hostel stuff etc).

IITBCSE itself is very tough, and when you indulge in more things, you don't have a social life - I don't go to trips, parties or other social gatherings. Even my meetings with friends are usually full of useful discussion. Jogging involve a podcast in parallel.

Back in 13–18 phase, when I was in school, I used to EASILY pull 80–90 hours as studying was the only thing I did. I used to study even in my school bus. Take only breaks for food and playing cricket for 30 mins - basically work a lot except basic stuff like eating, grooming and exercise. No time for friends at this range.

And this is ACTIVE hours. Please don't say you attend school and coaching for 6+4 hours a day and so you work 70 hours a week. It doesn't work like that. It has to be REAL, 80%+ efficient work. I used to backbench and solve University/High School Senior level Physics and Math back in 9th grade.

100+ hours is a whole new ballgame. It's not possible to travel or give too much time to ANYTHING apart from work (including eating - I used to eat while studying). It means 14–15 hours work everyday. I have worked this much only in January 2014 - when I was fighting against death for an exam called IJSO.

100+ hours will grow you like you're on steroids - but they take a huge toll on your personal life and health. You cannot move, nut (DON'T, IT'S NOVEMBER) , or laugh. Any movement compounded over 7 days make that 100 a 98. You sit and work like a donkey. The growth is immense though. I don't think I have ever experienced as much growth as I did during Jan '14.

The ingredients to pull this off are discipline, a mission strong enough to make distractions seem trivial, and good time management.

I have been struggling a bit with sleep recently though - I never compromised on sleep in teenage (100+ hours work with 7 hours sleep everyday, bitches ;).

-Kalpit Veerwal