Edmund Blair Leighton Stitching the Standard painting

Edmund Blair Leighton Stitching the Standard paintingPaul McCormack The Symbol of Man paintingEdmund Blair Leighton God Speed painting
This concept applies to people as well, because we all have our own level of maximum sustainable output, whether we’re aware of it or not.
Let’s say you have a big project you’re working on, and you just have to finish it on time at any cost. You can certainly put forth a tremendous effort and send your productivity through the roof. You can put other things on hold, drink lots of caffeine, and burn the candle at both ends, achieving far more than you normally would. But what goes up must come down.
After you burn out and come crashing down, you’ll have to pay the price with a period of reduced productivity. Maybe you’ll need to take some time off to recover, or maybe you’ll be less motivated to work efficiently, or maybe you’ll be scared off from attempting a project of that magnitude for a long while. Unfortunately, you pay more during your crash than you gained during your productive period.