When Work Takes Up Too Much Room

The senior leader shift from effort to agency.

Knowing what gets in matters.

Last week, I heard a phrase that took me back. Back to a version of myself that used to work harder every day.

It looked like this:

I would work long hours Monday through Friday. I would work Saturday morning, double-checking that I had done the most important work. I would try to relax Saturday afternoon and Sunday, but inevitably, I would have the Sunday Scaries (LINK TO ARTICLE).

I worked so hard that I never questioned it.

It was an earlier operating system and an expectation I had created for myself that no longer worked. As I grew more senior in my career with expanded scope and scale, that cycle of working harder was no longer where my best value was found. It simply wasn’t strategic.

The phrase I heard last week was, “Work is sucking me up.”

I knew exactly what they meant.

I’m realistic that there are peak times, big launches, or all-hands-on-deck challenges. But when an average day in a steady state requires working at a superhuman pace, I have some thoughts about what might be going on.

As you grow in your career, especially when you’re good at what you do, you tend to get more work. And more can become a positive association: I’m good at what I do, therefore I get more work. The cool work. The new work. The important work.

Eventually, having more work means you have to protect what’s important. You have to protect the work that only you can do.

This is where we often talk about delegation. And delegation matters. But delegation isn’t the only tool available to a leader with a large workload.

As a leader, you also have a voice in deciding what gets done. When you’re so far inside the work that you can no longer see the whole clearly, that may be a cue to step back for a moment. To sort and organize before automatically deciding to push ahead.

If you’re feeling sucked up by work, consider a different thought experiment.

As time has passed and more has been added to your plate, has the way you decide what deserves your attention changed along with it?

What if you become your own gatekeeper?

The gatekeeper knows what gets in and what doesn’t. The gatekeeper knows when to close the gate and when to open it.

And to be clear, this is different from setting a boundary and saying no to an incoming request. That’s too simple for where you are now, and that advice never made much sense when we’re also trying to be helpful and collaborative.

Now, you need to be discerning. Connected to business outcomes. In a more strategic stance about where your time and attention go.

And maybe that’s part of the tension.

Because this isn’t a one-time activity when a new effort kicks off. It requires an ongoing awareness of the changing landscape of the work, the priorities, and you.

When you have that feeling of being sucked up by work, it may be a sign that the balance between leading the work and following it has shifted.

And often, no one other than you will recognize that moment. Because the work will continue to get done.

The opportunity is to notice when that has happened, and move closer to the work that matters now.

Sometimes it’s hard to see this shift when you’re inside the work. This is one of the things I help senior leaders step back, see more clearly, and work through in coaching.

If this feels familiar, you can check my calendar to find a time to talk.