whole 9 yards until the finishing line ( but w/ cost

One example: in my last work group @ Cisco: I was doing three people's work loads: coding, system bringing-up, load building in the beginning, as the group was just formed without enough hands. But my boss, a German, expected me to keep the same pace afterwards (with high pay and promotion, of course).

So I kept going, gooooooing, ...  for the next 8 years, till the long hours & stress impacted my health badly.

Then, I quit