Can you bring to mind those nights in college where you stayed up all night cramming for exams? Sure, on occasion this may have helped you ace the exam, but can you recall how utterly exhausted you were afterwards?

In college, you could sleep for a day or two to recover. But that’s not a luxury you can afford in the world of small business.

Think about this the next time to claim that “There aren’t enough hours in the day!”

What would you do if you did have more hours in the day? While there are certainly many tasks you could get done with more time, you also need to remember that working longer hours can actually be rather harmful to your business.

This is also something you should keep in mind when you’re faced with “crunch time” before you start asking your employees to take work home with them or before you start burning the midnight oil in your office.

The ways that extended hours and working overtime on a regular basis can be harmful are fairly obvious. And sadly, it will show in your work output.

Tired employees equal cranky employees. After a while your productivity will start to suffer, as people tend to make more mistakes when they are tired. Even as a small business owner, exhaustion and overall burnout from working too much can result in poor decision making and a lackluster overall performance.

Also, let’s face it: over-working yourself can lead to additional stress in your life and can also go so far as to make you sick; when your body doesn’t get the rest it needs, it gets weak and, therefore, becomes more susceptible to illnesses. (This is one of those things you probably learned in those college all-nighters for a Biology exam).

So before you set out to take the world by storm by working extended hours on a regular basis, consider just how harmful working longer hours can be for you and your business.