Stop Playing Business—Focus on Value-Creation, Not Busywork

You rush into the day, inbox overflowing and calendar dinging every half hour. Between invoices, re-sorting the supply closet, and debating logo fonts for the tenth time, it’s easy to feel productive. Yet, at day’s end, you notice feeling oddly empty—your most important client hasn’t heard from you, and no new leads have arrived.

The next morning, you pause and log each task as you go. By lunch, all the color-coded admin and long social threads look impressive on paper, but you realize very little connects to actually winning or satisfying customers. Emails and checklists expand to fill the time. In the moments when you do call a lead, send out an offer, or help a client, there’s a sense of forward movement, and the next day starts lighter.

Behavioral psychology explains this tendency as 'pseudo-productivity.' The lure of fake work comforts us with the illusion of progress but leaves true value-building languishing. Over time, purposefully switching focus to customer-generating tasks increases both satisfaction and business health—while cutting busywork leaves you free to create, connect, and grow.

Track your days with ruthless honesty—what’s real work, and what’s just activity disguised as progress? Give yourself permission to reduce or automate at least one busywork item, and shift that saved hour to a call, offer, or follow-up that could create real value. Notice how it feels—sometimes uncomfortable but always empowering. Try it for two days; the clarity it brings is a surprise worth having.