![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2272112274-e1780002507276.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Many Gen Z say they want a life outside of work. To firmly shut their laptops at 5 p.m.\u2014and a significant chunk will even quit their jobs if their boss messages them after hours. But Arianna Huffington has a reality check for them: No one with an \u201cinteresting job\u201d can do that.<\/p>\n
Despite having well-earned flexibility\u2014she\u2019s built a $100 million net worth after co-founding The Huffington Post in 2005, selling it to AOL for $315 million, and now running her next venture, the wellness startup Thrive Global\u2014she still doesn\u2019t have a hard cut-off time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think there is anybody with an interesting job who can do that,\u201d Huffington tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cFor you, or me, or most people with interesting jobs, there is never a time when you have a natural ending to the day.\u201d Essentially, the work never really ends.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s why she can\u2019t say what time she finishes the workday. It\u2019s not static. Huffington says she stops when all the \u201cimportant things\u201d are done, and nearly always has work left over for the next morning.<\/p>\n And actually, she argues, if you can tick off everything on your to-do list and finish up on time every day, then it\u2019s perhaps a sign you\u2019re not challenged enough in your current job.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI tell people that if you can finish everything before you go to sleep, you don\u2019t have an interesting enough job,\u201d she cautions. \u201cYou should change jobs, because any interesting job means that things are not complete day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n Huffington knows the dangers of overwork better than most. While pulling 18-hour days to build Huffington Post in 2007, she passed out in her home office from sheer exhaustion. She hit her head on her desk on the way down, broke her cheekbone, and woke up in a pool of blood.<\/p>\n But she still hates the word \u201cbalance\u201c\u2014and says long hours aren\u2019t the problem. The answer isn\u2019t doing less. It\u2019s doing more: more sleep, more nutrition, more recovery to support that level of intense work.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important not to think in terms of hours, but in terms of fuel for yourself,\u201d Huffington says. \u201cHave you given yourself the fuel to renew yourself, to recharge yourself, and start again?\u201d<\/p>\n For most people, that starts with sleep. Unless you\u2019re one of the rare people with a genetic mutation that makes you a true \u201cshort sleeper,\u201d she says most adults should be aiming for seven to nine hours a night. \u201cIf you get your optimal number, that\u2019s critical for how effective you are at work,\u201d Huffington insists.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s key is starting from a full tank rather than trying to run on empty.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as people get the sleep they need, the exercise they need\u2014whatever that is, walking or strength training, or both\u2014that\u2019s also important,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt\u2019s not about how many hours, it\u2019s about how much are you feeding your body and your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n And work, she says, can play a part in that: \u201cWork is also incredibly fulfilling. I love my work. I actually don\u2019t really separate my work from the rest of my life. I\u2019m very blessed to be doing something I love, with people I love, so as long as I take enough time to recharge\u2014be with my family and friends, work out and have time to eat healthy\u2014then I love what I do the rest of the time, working.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Arianna #Huffington #warns #Gen #interesting #job #shut #laptop #p.m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many Gen Z say they want a life outside of work. To firmly shut their laptops at 5 p.m.\u2014and a significant chunk will even quit their jobs if their boss… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2783,7255,7251,2376,424,426,7252,2782,1893,428,1071,7256,7253,7257,760,855,2401,4334,7258,2781,4487,7254,583,3042],"class_list":["post-4814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-and-wellness","tag-arianna","tag-arianna-huffington","tag-career","tag-career-advice","tag-careers","tag-ceo-wellness","tag-fitness","tag-gen","tag-gen-z","tag-health","tag-huffington","tag-huffington-post","tag-interesting","tag-job","tag-laptop","tag-lifestyle","tag-millionaires","tag-p-m","tag-personal-health","tag-shut","tag-the-promotion-playbook","tag-warns","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Arianna Huffington says it doesn\u2019t actually matter how many hours you work, as long as you get the right amount of sleep first\u00a0<\/h2>\n