Why being busy is overrated

Why visible effort is losing value in the age of AI

“I’m too busy” has become a symbol of value in many professional environments. Back to back meetings. Dozens of emails. Constant deliveries. But what if being busy were precisely the problem? What if that apparent productivity were hiding a lack of real impact?

The rise of AI is amplifying this tension. Because, for the first time, many visible tasks, summaries, emails, reports, documentation, tickets, can be done faster, or even fully automated. And yet, in many organizations, visible effort is still rewarded more than results.

However, the tasks with the greatest potential share a very interesting characteristic, the disconnection between effort and outcome. This idea is key. It is closely linked to wealth and abundance. A well made decision can generate a disproportionate impact. And this disconnection between effort and outcome can be applied to any job.

When you start thinking about your daily tasks based on an impact and effort matrix, everything changes. When you stop asking how much work do I have, and instead ask what result am I seeking, you gain much greater clarity about what you should stop doing, because it generates no impact, delegate, because it does not require your judgment, automate, because it is repetitive, or simply eliminate, because no one will miss it.

Being busy is comfortable. It gives a sense of progress. But real advancement requires choosing impact, regardless of whether your effort is more or less visible. You will see how you gain far more time for what truly matters