It started with a casual chat. Sitting around our desks in the Stylist office, one confession after another spilled out. “I couldn’t be bothered to cook last night so I had Weetabix for dinner,” “Well, I only managed pitta bread and hummus” and “I had Marmite on toast.”

Not earth-shattering but each disclosure came with a sense that we were revealing something a bit shameful, something that didn’t meet others’ expectations.

When the chat expanded into a discussion about the pros and cons of changing into pyjamas the moment you get home, we knew we were on to something: why, when we all work so hard, do we feel guilty that sometimes we let superwoman go and embrace our inner student? After all, who has the energy to be winning at life literally all the time. Do they? Surely we’re not the only ones?

So, we decided to explore what really goes on behind the public facade of successful people’s lives to discover their less-than-ideal habits. Comparing ourselves to others is a natural human reaction and not just the result of too much social media scrolling, according to a recent behavioural study published in the scientific journal Neuron. But comparison isn’t necessarily a destructive force.

Netflix binges and cereal for dinner: how the UK’s most successful women really spend their downtime