The "inbox zero" trap
How top performers get stuck in low-value work and burn out
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Taking pride in ownership and getting the job done drove me to Amazon VP.
But, this pride can also be a trap.
Leaning into “high ownership” or “high agency” means focusing on things you control and not blaming circumstances or other people for the setbacks.
There is always something you can do to advance a project or achieve a goal, and “owners” focus on identifying and executing that thing.
The trap is taking action can make us successful, but also very busy.
The more we focus on what we can do, the more we may start doing.
Most high performers like to work hard and are willing to do so in order to get results.
But, when we condition ourselves to get results through harder work, we can be tempted to equate the results with our level of effort rather than with the cleverness of our actions.
We can become proud of how hard we work — after all, look where it has gotten us!
I fell into this trap at times in my career.
For many years, I did a lot of extra work to get to "Inbox Zero."
Meaning, I got rid of every message in my inbox.
I even sorted and filed every message I ever sent.
I would also work late at night to reply to every message waiting on me, and then get up early in the morning to immediately reply to anything that came in overnight.
While this made me very quick to respond, the pressure I put on myself (and the pressure it put on my team members to "keep up") was higher than the value that “Inbox Zero” delivered.
Clearing out my email felt good because I was finishing something, but it was obsessive and low value at the same time.
We are conditioned to fall into this "busywork" trap early in life.
We work long hours in school, and get good grades.
Then, we start a job, work hard, and get raises.
Do this long enough, and often we get promoted as well.
This conditions us to equate hard work with progress, and we often become proud of how hard we work.
Part of this pride comes from people praising us for our hard work.
Workaholism is a socially acceptable form of addiction.
We all know someone who says they “have to” work 80 hours a week.
Do they really though?