Why Busy Is The Burnout Badge You Don’t Need

How often do we find ourselves in meetings that offer little value, the ‘that was pointless’ meeting? Feeling obligated to attend every meeting sent your way is a cultural norm at most organizations, but so is wasting time.

Data shows that we all have experience this meeting burst since 2020. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index Annual Report, since February 2020, users have seen a 252% increase in their weekly meeting time. In a recent conversation with an Executive Director at CVS, he explained the recent uptick in meetings as “your calendar being completely blocked off was a byproduct of covid as the “pop in” collaboration wasn’t on the table and doesn’t seem like we have ever recovered.” What was a 2-minute pop in has now turned into the minimum 30-minute default meeting.

Meeting invites without context or agendas are the main culprit for why we show up to meetings with little to no idea what our role is for that meeting. You may not be able to control if there is an agenda, but you can reply to the meeting request and ask some questions. ‘What is my role for this meeting?’ ‘Is there anything I can be prepared to contribute.’ ‘What is the goal of this meeting?’ The more information you have about the meeting, the better decision you can make if its worth your time to attend.

If your calendar is only for meetings, why are you surprised when it’s full of them? Proactively manage your calendar by blocking off time for focused work. Remember you are the one controlling your calendar and accepting all the invites. People will find another time if they see you are unavailable.

I was working full-time in the office as an HR consultant when I became a full-time firefighter. I consistently blocked off days dedicated to firefighting on my calendar, marking myself as unavailable for meetings. The weirdest thing happened, very few meeting requests came through for those days.

Of course, there will be times when a meeting request comes in for a time you’ve blocked off. The key is to be strategic about how you respond. Can the meeting be rescheduled? Can you send information in ahead of time? Can you delegate someone to share your updates? Can you have someone take notes for you and provide a recap? If you keep breaking your time block for meetings, you aren’t time blocking.

How many times are we checking email in a day? Why?

Let’s be honest, we are likely not that important. Urgent matters will find a way to us – after all, we don’t email 911 for emergencies, do we?

What do you do for a living that shutting off your email for a few hours, half a day or even a full day is going to cause the company to fail? Just try it and see what happens. Maybe first communicate with key people you deal with that you are trying this. You know those people that are expecting an immediate response because you’ve conditioned yourself to sit, stay, reply like a goooood doggie.

If we focus on getting things done, those “when are you going to get this done?” emails won’t come. And if they do, by the time we see them, we’ll be finished and can reply with “here you go.”

Time blocking for email. Double win – you can’t be scheduled for meetings because you’re “time blocked” responding to emails (the irony!).

This might be more personal, but let’s be real – we scroll at work too. Or while driving, or while with actual people like family, friends, and co-workers. Just check your phone – it’ll tell you how long you spend scrolling through curated realities.

No excuses on this one. They are designed to keep you there, that is a fact. Delete them and I bet you gain some time and happiness back.

Busy just means I have prioritized this over that. You are busy doing the things you chose to do, remember that. Even if it is someone else dictating what you are busy doing, you still choose how to respond.

By taking control of your time and strategically managing your workload, you can extinguish the flames of busyness and emerge a leader who thrives, not just survives.