What If “Crazy Busy” Is Just Crazy?

At this time of year, many founders and CEOs are understandably swamped. Recently, a founder I reached out to responded with, “I’m crazy busy right now; let’s talk at the beginning of 2025.” This response struck a familiar chord. Many leaders use similar words to describe their current experience, without realizing that the words they use are more than descriptors.

The words you use actually create your reality. When you say, “I’m crazy busy,” you’re not just explaining your situation—you’re creating a world that is crazy busy, and a set of rules that govern that world.

What if there’s another way?

The Overachiever’s Redline: Is This Sustainable?

In the corporate world, and especially with founders and other overachievers, there’s often an unspoken belief that being busy—right up to the edge of burnout—is the hallmark of achievement. One client put it this way: If the redline of your “engine” is 12,000 RPM, you should be pushing 11,999 as often as you can. But what if you're pushing to do the wrong things? What’s the quality of our decisions when we’re always operating at this extreme? Is it sustainable to push this hard every single day?

For leaders in particular, the productivity mindset is dangerous. Operating at “redline” levels too often can lead to poor decision-making, burnout, and having to do a lot of things over again.

Not very productive.

The Irony of Productivity: How “Crazy Busy” Can Block Success

It may feel like a badge of honor to be as productive as possible, but ironically, this approach can actually repel the very abundance you’re trying to create. When you make yourself “crazy busy,” you’re filling your day with tasks, checking every box, and chasing every lead—yet you may not be focusing on what truly matters (and your people might not be, either). Productivity isn’t about how much you do; it’s about choosing to do the right things.

Instead of filling your day, step back and ask: What’s the one thing I really need to do today? Often, by focusing on the essential, you unlock the potential for greater impact in much less time.

Reimagining Success: Abundance, Ease, and Joy

When I coach leaders, I emphasize creating abundance, ease, and joy—but it’s important to understand the order of these priorities. It’s not about achieving abundance first and then allowing ourselves to experience ease and joy. Instead, it’s about seeing joy as an inherent part of life. As a founder, for example, you created your business as an expression of purpose, meaning, and yes, joy. This joy can bring a sense of ease, which then opens the path to true abundance.

Does this seem too idealistic? It’s not. It’s actually the fast way to any goal. Once you allow yourself to work from a place of joy and ease, you’ll realize that abundance flows naturally from there, and that the important things just come to you rather than being effortful.

Creating Abundance From a New Perspective

If this resonates, fantastic. If it feels like a stretch, let’s talk. My challenge to you is simple: see the joy that already exists in your life and work, see why you started this work in the first place, and let that be your foundation. From there, let ease emerge, and watch how abundance begins to flow in ways that once seemed impossible.

By breaking free from the cycle of “crazy busy,” you’re not just creating more space in your day—you’re creating a life and business where abundance, ease, and joy are the foundations of sustainable success.