How do you manage long hours

This is the $100 million question.

Honestly, it’s hard. One of the reasons I decided to leave BCG after more than 10 years was that my personal idea of being a father was becoming difficult to reconcile with the consulting lifestyle. Not so much because of the pure working hours, but mostly because of the travel and unpredictability.

That said, early in your career, consulting is very much an investment phase. At that stage, you typically don’t have a lot of leverage to push back on staffing, travel, or workload until you’ve built a strong reputation and credibility internally.

So, at least in the beginning, my honest advice is that you largely need to embrace the intensity, learn as much as possible, and build your brand quickly. Over time, once you become more established, you gain much more control over your projects and lifestyle.

Hope it helps,
Good luck!
Franco

I fully agree with what Franco said.

The only thing I would add is that, especially in consulting, it’s very important to define for yourself what is acceptable and what is not — and under which specific circumstances you are willing to stretch those boundaries.

Of course, the boundaries cannot realistically be “9 to 5 and never weekends,” otherwise consulting is probably not the right industry. There will be periods where extra effort is required, and that’s part of the job.

But there is a big difference between:

• accepting temporary peaks because there is a real client need / deadline / critical moment
  and
• normalizing unhealthy patterns all the time

The people I’ve seen sustain consulting well over time are usually the ones who become very intentional about this. They know:

• when to push hard
• when to protect personal time
• and when a situation is becoming unreasonable

If you don’t define those limits for yourself, consulting can very easily expand to fill all available space.

Hi,

I think people outside consulting sometimes imagine that consultants work until midnight every day for 10 years straight. In reality, it’s more cyclical than that.

There are definitely rough periods, especially on difficult projects or with demanding teams, but there are also calmer periods. A lot depends on the office, manager, project, and even the client.

The people I’ve seen manage it best are usually not the ones trying to “outwork everyone.” They’re the ones who become very disciplined with their time and energy. They learn when to push hard and when to protect personal time.

On family life, honestly, it can be tough at times. That’s one reason many people eventually move from consulting into industry roles after a few years. But plenty of consultants also build healthy long-term careers and families, usually by finding teams and setups that are more sustainable for them.

Best,

Soheil

hey! 

Totally relatable question! :)

Long hours are only survivable if you protect your energy, not your time. Consultants who last don’t “power through”, they build small routines that keep them sane: a short walk after dinner, one non‑negotiable family touchpoint each day, and clear resets on weekends. You won’t balance everything perfectly, but you can stay grounded by keeping a few simple habits and being honest about your limits. 

BEst, Alessa

You don't really "manage" 9am to midnight five days a week for years. You burn out, push back, or build guardrails.

15-hour days every weekday for years isn't normal. Most consultants average 60 to 70 hour weeks with occasional peaks. If yours is truly that intense always, something's broken in staffing or boundaries.

What works. Protect mornings, evenings are unpredictable. Block one evening a week non-negotiable. Invest in support at home, nanny, cleaner, meals. Communicate the week ahead with your partner. Quality time over quantity.

Be honest about what you can sustain.

Good luck.

Hi there, 

It's not actually that bad in practice. 

'Bad lifestyle' in consulting is seasonal, typically lasting a couple of weeks, it's not constant. You have breaks between projects. Some projects are also breezier. Even within 'bad' projects there are windows of downtime. The image that's often painted of consulting is more gruelling than in practice. 

I wrote a guide on this that you might find useful:

• • Expert Guide: How to Manage for Lifestyle in Consulting

But two thoughts in particular come to mind:

• One from a Senior Partner I used to work with, and who said that he assumed his job was a 12h Mon-Fri job. He almost never worked on weekends. But aside from this, he assumed that from 9 to 9 he was engaged
• One from a Senior EM I used to work with, who basically thought of the working week as being dedicated fully to the consulting work (again, Mon-Fri). So he didn't even expect he would be able to do other things. 

Managing expectations is key here. 

If you have any follow-up questions on this, don't hesitate to drop me a line. 

Best,
Cristian