Utkarsh NarangFounder, IgnitedNeurons · Your best doers become your worst managers as you scale. I turn them into leaders so your best people don’t leave.

How 80% Effort Beats 100% Every Time

20 Mar 2025 · 1 min

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1:05

A product manager working 12-hour days hits 100 output initially but declines to 80, then zero from burnout. Someone at 80% effort stays consistent and can spike to 100 for urgent work, then recover. Sustainable beats maximal over a career.

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So if we're putting in 100 effort, let's say that product manager putting in 12 hours a day, putting in 100 points of effort. At the start, you're going to get 100 output points. Then over time, you're going to get 95 and then 90, then 85 and 80. You're still putting in 100 points of effort. So your effort has not decreased, but your performance has. Now we consider someone else who's putting in 80 points of effort. And they have 20 points of effort to take home to their family, to invest in their exercise or reading or whatever they want, they're gonna maintain 80 output points. And when they need to, they can ramp that up. So if a big project comes across their desk and for 2 weeks they need to put in 90 or 95 or 100, they have the capacity to do that. And then they come back down to 80 and they can maintain their 80 over a longer period. That's a person that can give 80 output for an entire career, as opposed to giving 100 for as long as they can and then burning out, going to zero, and having to start all over again.