Too busy is not a badge of honour
Usually it's a choice you haven't made
Being too busy is not a sign of commitment or competence, so I don't think it is something leaders should wear as a badge of honour.
Of course, senior leadership is demanding, and there will be seasons when the workload is genuinely high. But when someone tells me they are too busy, I often think the more interesting issue is not the volume of work, but the choices they are making.
The trap of too many "good" priorities
I was speaking recently with a leader whose team had 12 live priorities. All of them were reasonable, all of them mattered, and that was exactly the problem. Because while they were trying to push forward across so many fronts, the most important work was not getting the sustained attention it needed.
As we slowed the conversation down, it became clear that they did not need a better system for keeping all 12 moving. They needed to decide which three really deserved their focus now, and which ones would wait. And, as is often the case, the most strategically important ones were the projects that needed proactive courage - those that are easy to keep postponing unless you make them a priority.
The impact of narrowing your focus
Once the leader made this shift, it changed the situation more than they expected. Progress became more visible to everyone, the team’s energy returned and the work that mattered most started to move forward at pace.
I see versions of this often. Staying busy can feel like commitment and competence, but sometimes it is what happens when difficult choices have not yet been made.
So if you are feeling too busy at the moment, it may be worth asking yourself:
Which three things really deserve your focus now, and what will wait?
I work one-to-one with senior leaders, helping them build strategies to tackle complex challenges. If you'd like to explore what that could look like for you, you can find out more here.
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