Why You’re Working 16-Hour Days But Get Nothing Done and How to Break the Cycle
I was facilitating an off-site for an executive team recently when the CEO said something that stopped me in my tracks.
“We’re all working 16-hour days, but I’m not sure we’re getting anywhere.”
The entire room nodded.
These weren’t inexperienced managers. They were seasoned executives running major divisions.
Yet they all felt trapped in the same cycle: constantly busy, rarely focused, and definitely exhausted.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: We’re Living in an Infinite Workday
Microsoft’s latest research reveals just how broken our work patterns have become:
- The average worker gets interrupted every 2 minutes during core work hours by meetings, emails, or notifications
- We receive 117 emails daily – most skimmed in under 60 seconds
- Half of all meetings happen during our natural productivity peaks (9-11 AM and 1-3 PM), hijacking our best focus time
- 57% of meetings are last-minute, ad-hoc calls without calendar invites
- One in three employees says the pace of work makes it impossible to keep up
No wonder the executive team felt overwhelmed. They weren’t managing their time; their time was managing them.
The Real Problem Isn’t What You Think
When I asked that executive team, “What are your biggest time-wasters?” their answers were predictable:
- Too many meetings
- People submitting incomplete information
- Endless emails, texts, and Slack messages
- Constant interruptions
Notice a pattern? Every single answer blamed someone else.
Here’s what I told them (and what I’m telling you): the problem isn’t other people wasting your time. The problem is that you’ve lost control of your own schedule.
The Self-Management System That Actually Works
Instead of blaming external forces, successful executives focus on what they can control.
I call this “self-management,” and it starts with five crucial decisions you need to make.
You need to stop:
1. Saying yes to non-critical requests
Every ‘yes’ to something unimportant is a ‘no’ to something that matters. Microsoft’s data shows that large meetings (65+ people) are the fastest-growing type.
How many of those do you really need to attend?
2. Getting in the weeds
Your job isn’t to solve every problem. Your job is to ensure problems get solved.
When you dive into details your team should handle, you’re not being thorough, you’re being ineffective.
3. Doing other people’s jobs
This is the big one. High-performing executives often fall into this trap because they can do things faster than delegating them. Short-term gain, long-term disaster.
4. Attempting to do too much at once
The research is clear: multitasking makes you less effective, not more. Those 275 daily interruptions aren’t helping you. Rather, they’re destroying your ability to think strategically.
5. Setting unrealistic timelines
When everything is urgent, nothing is.
Stop creating artificial pressure that forces everyone into reactive mode.
Your Next Move
Here’s a practical activity for you to accomplish this week:
Track your time for three days.
Every hour, write down what you spent the last hour doing. Don’t change anything, just observe.
Then ask yourself:
- How much time did I spend on work that only I can do?
- How much time did I spend on things others could have handled?
- How much time was genuinely productive versus just “being busy”?
The answers might surprise you.
The future belongs to executives who can focus, not just work long hours.
In a world where the average worker faces 275 interruptions per day, your ability to protect your attention becomes your competitive advantage.
