You don't have to give up all else in your life in order to become an expert in a field. I can't operate well when I spend too much time focused on my field. I start to feel unhealthy, depressed, lonely, frail, etc etc. I need to take time to sleep in every now and then. I take a little time to get cardio workouts in (I built a retaining wall with granite boulders last weekend by myself. I was out of breath for about 6 hours.). Exercise increases dopamine levels in the brain (helping focus). It also promotes overall health, which is a common trait among experts that I work with. We all have hobbies outside of our field that promote overall health. Mountain biking, triathlons, marathons, motocross racing, rock climbing, paintball, etc etc. The top guys in my field have hobbies outside of work, and they are actually top guys in their hobbies as well.
I once had a job at which I did hard manual labor for 84 hours per week. I was 18 years old and the job was in a ductile iron foundry. That is 12 hours per day for 7 days per week. It required a minimum of 9 hours of sleep if you wanted to make it through the next day without losing your edge too badly. I also had to spend more time eating, because my food intake increased to about 6000 calories per day. I got about 1 hour of free time every day, and that was usually spent cleaning the house or paying bills etc etc.
When I went to college, I brought those work habits with me. However, I had usually completed all of my work for the week before noon on Wednesday. That left a lot of time for hobbies and coming up with various schemes to accomplish various goals without spending all of my savings.
