Last week, my wife wrote an email to a colleague abroad, arriving around midnight their time. She had a response within minutes. As my wife put it, these are people in corporate America who are married to their jobs.

My first thought was that more fool you guys. When companies like this undergo management change, they are often the fools who lose their jobs – hard working or not. And what about their families? I was drawn to recall all this by a series of posting on the blog pages of the Harvard Business Review. “You need more sleep” led off one writer, claiming how more companies are encouraging workers to relax more often.

In similar fashion, Tony Schwartz asks: “What Would Make You More Satisfied and Productive at Work?” Surveys repeatedly find that only 30% of employees are truly engaged during work hours.

A few weeks ago, a client of mine called me up one early evening. He had had a lousy day. At the start of a sales campaign, everything that could go wrong, did so – customers walking out etc etc. As business mentor, what could I suggest that would help? Naturally, I was supposed to be full of sympathy.

I took a different track. I asked two simple questions. How much had he slept the night before kick off? Answer……..30 minutes. How much had he eaten in the past 36 hours? Answer………a couple of pieces of fruit. With that additional set of info, I added three statements. Before anything else, eat a fulsome meal. Then pick off the three most critical problems to solve. Finally, ignore the rest and go to bed early. Two months later, there was a large bonus in the bank account.

The body is like a car. If you try to run off nothing, you get nowhere!

Here in Israel, a recent article in Hebrew cited the head of the local branch of Unilever, Anat Gavriel, and Dov Kotler who is in charge of a major credit card operation. They both advocate full breakfasts with the family. Similarly, Ayelet Levy-Peled is the CEO of Laline, an Israeli cosmetics company with branches overseas. She insists when possible on not starting meetings after 5.00pm.

Next time you try to get 25 hours work out of a regular day – 6 days a week, just consider how effective you are being.