The Cult of Busyness

Welcome to issue #020 of Under the Surface. Each week, I share one thoughtful piece to help you grow, lead and thrive in the messy reality of project work. If something lands - or misses - I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you’re exploring what’s next, you can join the Pathfinder waitlist to go deeper with others on the same journey.

Did someone forward this email? —> Become a subscriber here

The Cult of Busyness

Somewhere along the way, we made ‘busy’ a badge of honour.
A sign that you’re important. In demand. Earning your keep.

It’s become the default language of professional life — especially in project environments.
Ask someone how they’re doing and nine times out of ten, the answer is the same: “Busy, mate. Flat out.”

It sounds harmless. But listen closely, and you’ll hear what’s really being said:
“I’m stretched thin.”
“I’m firefighting again.”
“I’m not sure what matters most, so I’m trying to do it all.”

The irony is, in our effort to look productive, we’ve built cultures where no one has time to actually think.
And that’s not leadership. That’s noise.

When Motion Replaces Momentum

Through coaching conversations with project leaders over the past year, I’ve noticed the same pattern across teams and personalities.
Everyone is working harder than ever — yet few feel they’re getting anywhere faster.

Meetings pile onto meetings. Emails breed overnight.
Calendars look impressive but rarely align with priorities.

As one senior engineer put it, “We’re firefighting so much, we’ve forgotten what leading looks like.”

The problem isn’t effort. It’s direction.
Teams are reactive because systems aren’t yet robust enough to support clarity.
Supervisors hold on to technical tasks because it feels safer than leading.
Managers stay online long after hours, afraid to miss something critical — or to be seen as slacking.

It’s not laziness; it’s a culture problem.
We’ve confused activity with effectiveness.

Benjamin Franklin warned about this centuries ago: “Never confuse motion with action.”
We’re living proof of how right he was.

The Emotional Tax of Always Being On

Busyness carries a cost — not just in time, but in wellbeing.
I see it daily in conversations that start with energy and end with exhaustion.

A project manager admits he’s averaging five hours of sleep.
Another talks about the guilt of slowing down, even when he knows he’s at breaking point.
A third can’t remember the last time he had a full day to think strategically instead of reactively.

Adam Grant writes in Think Again that “being too busy to rethink assumptions is a recipe for stagnation.”
Yet that’s exactly where many professionals live — in constant motion, too tired to challenge their own habits.

The emotional result?
A low hum of anxiety.
A constant feeling of being slightly behind.
And an unspoken fear that if we stop, even briefly, everything will fall apart.

But what if it doesn’t?
What if it gets better?

What ‘Busy’ Is Really Hiding

‘Busy’ often hides the things we don’t want to face.

It hides unclear priorities — when everything looks important, nothing is.
It hides ego — when saying yes feels easier than setting a boundary.
It hides insecurity — when we equate visible effort with value.

Stephen Covey said it best in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

In other words: being full doesn’t mean being focused.
Your calendar isn’t proof of progress. It’s just proof of how much you’ve said yes to.

Leadership Isn’t About Looking Busy

The best leaders I’ve coached this year share a quiet confidence.
They don’t fill their days with noise — they fill them with intent.

One manager started by blocking two hours a week just for thinking.
No calls, no Teams messages, no fire drills. Just space to decide what matters most.
He told me it felt strange at first — like he was cheating.

Then he noticed his decisions improving.
Meetings were shorter. His team stopped chasing their tails.
He wasn’t working less — he was working clearly.

James Clear’s Atomic Habits talks about this shift as a system change:

Busyness thrives in the absence of systems.
Structure gives freedom; chaos demands control.

When leaders get intentional, teams get calmer.
And calm, as it turns out, is contagious too.

From Control to Clarity

If there’s one thing the construction and engineering world teaches us, it’s that no one thrives in constant emergency mode.
Yet that’s how many professionals describe their weeks — like a series of handovers with no clean start or finish.

One coaching session revealed a simple truth:

That’s not failure. That’s growth.

Good leadership isn’t about being the busiest person in the room.
It’s about giving others the clarity and confidence to take ownership.
As Jocko Willink puts it in Extreme Ownership:

Boundaries create breathing space.
Delegation builds trust.
Stillness sharpens judgment.

How to Break the Cycle

Here are five small but powerful practices drawn from what’s worked for others:

1. Audit your calendar weekly. Colour-code what gives energy vs. what drains it. The ratio may surprise you.

2. Say “not now” more often. A delayed yes is still progress — but a rushed one can undo weeks of work.

3. Protect deep work. Treat thinking time as a client meeting. It’s where clarity happens.

4. Track outcomes, not hours. What moved forward this week because of you? That’s the real metric.

5. Finish before you start. Define what success looks like for a task before diving in — or you’ll never know when it’s done.

These are small shifts, but over time, they rebuild trust — in yourself, in your systems, in your teams.

A Culture Worth Building

There’s something hopeful happening beneath the noise.
More professionals are quietly rejecting the cult of busyness.
They’re trading urgency for intention. Chaos for clarity.

It’s not about working less — it’s about working with purpose.
It’s about designing days that leave room for leadership, not just delivery.
And it’s about redefining productivity as something human, not heroic.

Eckhart Tolle wrote,

That’s the kind of busyness worth keeping.

The Final Question

So, when was the last time you ended a week not feeling rushed — and still felt proud of what you achieved?

Maybe it’s time to rethink what ‘busy’ really means.

Yours,

Gerwyn

PS – What we’re building at Coron Projects

I’m building something for project professionals who want more than just tasks and titles. Pathfinder is a new kind of membership built for people in engineering and construction who are ready to grow, lead and thrive on their terms. No corporate bullshit. No gatekeepers. Just the tools, support and mindset shifts that help you take ownership of your career.

It’s currently in development and if that sounds like something you might want in your corner, you can join the waitlist here and include “Pathfinder” in the message.