The Trap of Productive Busyness

Why Adding More is not the Answer to Conflicting Priorities

If you are scheduling meetings at 7:30 AM and 6:30 PM to manage conflicting priorities, you are not alone. Leaders everywhere are stretched thinner than ever, trying to do more with less, responding to constant change, and juggling competing demands that all feel urgent.

The instinct is to add more—more meetings, more hours, more hustle. If we can fit it all in, if we can work harder, if we can be more productive, we will get ahead of it.

But here is what I've learned after twenty years of leading transformations at Fortune 500 companies:

Adding more is not the solution. In fact, it is the problem.

The Illusion of Productive Busyness

We have created a culture that equates busyness with effectiveness. Packed calendars signal importance. Back-to-back meetings demonstrate commitment. Working before sunrise and after sunset proves dedication.

But what if all that activity is simply a form of avoidance?

What if we are so busy managing everything that we never stop to ask: What actually needs to be managed? And what can we let go of?

The discomfort we feel when priorities conflict is not a scheduling problem. It is a signal—a signal that something in how we are operating is not working. But instead of investigating that signal, we schedule another meeting.

The Space Between Knowing and Doing

Most leaders I work with already know what needs to change. They know which meetings add no value. They know which initiatives are not moving the needle. They know which processes create friction instead of flow.

But there is a gap between knowing and doing. And that gap is where we get stuck.

We stay stuck because change feels risky. Because letting go means admitting something we invested in is notworking. Because saying "no" to one priority means potentially disappointing someone. Because subtraction feels like failure in a culture that celebrates addition.

So we keep adding. We keep accommodating. We keep trying to hold it all.

And we slowly suffocate under the weight of our own productivity.

What Needs to Be Released

Here is the shift that changes everything: Giving away is more empowering than trying to hold it all.

Not giving up. Not checking out. Not lowering standards.

Giving away what is not serving you, your team, or your organization's actual goals.

This means:

Releasing the belief that being available to everything makes you effective. It does not. It makes you reactive. True leadership requires space to think, to see patterns, and to make strategic decisions. That space does not exist in a calendar with no white space.

Releasing the need to be in every conversation. If you have built a strong team, they do not need you in every meeting. Your presence in too many rooms often signals that you have not empowered your people to make decisions without you.

Releasing initiatives that sounded good six months ago but are not delivering results now. Sunk cost is real. The time and energy you have already invested does not justify continued investment if it is not working. Cut it. Move on.

Releasing the fantasy that you can do everything well. You cannot. No one can. Every "yes" to one thing is a "no" to something else. The question is: are you choosing your "nos" strategically, or are you letting your calendar choose them for you?

The Practice: Working With Resistance Instead of Against It

When everything feels like a priority, the natural response is resistance—to the workload, to the competing demands, to the impossible expectations.

Most leaders try to power through resistance. They add earlier meetings. They work weekends. They push harder.

But resistance is not the enemy. Resistance is information.

It is telling you that something needs to shift. That the current approach is not sustainable. That addition is not the answer—subtraction is.

Here's how to work with it:

1. Get clear on what is actually happening. Take an honest inventory. How many meetings are you in per week? How many are essential? How many initiatives are you actively managing? How many are truly driving results? Don't judge it, be objective.

2. Identify what you are holding onto. What meetings, projects, or commitments are you continuing out of habit, guilt, or fear rather than strategic necessity? What would happen if you let them go? Often the consequences we imagine are far worse than what would actually occur.

3. Choose what to release. Pick one thing this week to let go of. One recurring meeting that adds no value. One report no one reads. One initiative that is limping along. Give it away. Delete it. Close the loop and move on.

4. Notice what emerges in the space that you create. When you release what is not serving you, something interesting happens: space opens up. Space to think. Space to see what actually matters. Space to be strategic instead of reactive.

The Path Forward

The path forward is not about doing more. It is about doing what matters and releasing what does not.

It is about recognizing that your exhaustion is not a badge of honor—it is a symptom of a system that needs to change.

It is about understanding that leadership is not about accommodating every priority—it is about making clear choices about where to focus and having the courage to let go of the rest.

The question is not: How do I fit it all in?

The question is: What am I willing to release to make space for what actually matters?

Your 7:30 AM and 6:30 PM meetings are not solving the problem. They are symptoms of a deeper issue: the belief that adding more is the only option.

It is not.

Subtraction is an option. Release is an option. Space is an option.

And often, those options are exactly what is needed.

What would happen if you gave away one thing this week? What space might open up? What might become possible?