Dr. Mom, unlike her colleagues, puts in a 40-hour work week and is still successful. "It seems like most of my colleagues (women and men) work crazy 10, 12+ hour days. Often you hear people comparing the academic version of war stories almost as if it is a contest to see who has worked the longest day. But I have never been like that," Dr. Mom blogs.
Mike the Mad Biologist adds on his own blog that there are a variety of reasons why some researchers spend more time working than others, the first one being that they just like it. Other reasons he offers include time management problems, inadequate support staff, and lack of managerial support. "Just to be clear, there are times when you have to work long hours — looming grant deadlines, something unexpectedly comes up, and so on. But there's also a lot of bad behavior at various levels too," Mike blogs.