Trapped in an ‘Infinite Workday’? Here’s How To Get Out and Still Succeed at Your Job

You check emails at dinner, answer Slack messages from bed, and feel guilty every time you close your laptop. Sound familiar? You’re trapped in what many are calling the “infinite workday”, a cycle where work never truly ends and personal time becomes something that’s never truly your own.

This tiring habit often persists because employees don’t want to seem uncommitted or lazy and let their bosses down. However, decades of research suggest that putting your foot down might actually be best not just for your health but also for your job prospects.

Signs You’re Trapped in the Infinite Workday

There are various ways to tell if you are overworking. The clearest signs include the following:

• Constantly checking emails or other work-related communications outside of the standard working hours.
• Bringing your work home with you or into your personal space.
• Feeling guilty about taking a break or logging off as a form of slacking or laziness.
• Not having time during working hours to complete your workload, perhaps because of endless meetings.
• Struggling to switch your brain off at night.
• Waking up feeling tired and instantly thinking about work.
• Struggling to find time for personal essentials like family, exercise, or even eating.

Building Your Work-Life Firewall

Setting boundaries between your work and personal time doesn’t make you a bad employee. In theory, if you’re better rested, you will work better, delivering greater results to your employer.

“Set boundaries as to the hours you are going to work and stick to them,” Lawrence Sprung, a chartered financial planner and expert on mental health matters, told Investopedia. “Designing a routine for the beginning of your day and the end can be helpful. As an example, you could meditate and then begin to work, and at the end of the day, you close your laptop, take a walk, and that indicates to your brain that your day is done.”

Setting boundaries also applies to technology. Experts recommend implementing email and other work-related content curfews, as well as maintaining separate devices and profiles for work and personal life. Sprung, for example, has one phone for work and another for personal use that isn’t connected to his business email, and he makes it clear to those who need to know that he should only be contacted when out of the office if it’s something urgent.

Managers should also be mindful of setting a good example. One way to do this is to ensure that communications aren’t sent outside of traditional work hours. “When I do find myself needing to work during off hours, I will schedule emails, texts, and Teams messages to go out the following morning,” said Sprung. “ I do not want my team feeling like they need to respond during off hours simply because I have chosen to work.”

Top Performers Might Work Less, Not More

Employees often fear setting boundaries because they fear that working less means not getting enough done and potentially losing their job. We’ve long associated putting in long hours with success. However, decades of research suggest the opposite.

John H. Pencavel, a researcher at Stanford University, has pointed to his own studies and historical research in very different types of work to argue that productivity per hour declines sharply once a worker goes past 50 hours a week, and often, any work after 55 hours drops in productivity to the point where working more is pointless.

The Bottom Line

The infinite workday trap isn’t just stealing your personal time—it might be sabotaging your professional success. Set boundaries, turn off those notifications, and give yourself permission to work like many top performers do: strategically, sustainably, and with clear limits.