The scarcity that isn't

In almost every coaching conversation with a CXO, time comes up.

There isn't enough of it. There are too many demands. The calendar is full before the week has started. The feeling of being constantly behind and never catching up.

And yet, time is finite. Every leader has the same number of hours. Why do so many leaders feel stretched, and have time scarcity ?

Interestingly, the ones who feel most stretched are not always the ones with the most to do. The question of scarcity is not about the quantity of time. It is about what the time is being spent on.

When a leader spends significant hours on things that matter less - decisions that could be delegated, conversations that don't require their presence, problems that belong to a different level of the organisation - the time that remains for what actually matters feels insufficient.

As leaders move up, the paradox sharpens. More authority, more access, more requests, and more opportunity to spend time on things that feel important but aren’t. What matters less is always competing with what matters more, and winning. This is artificially created scarcity.

The question worth asking is not - how do I find more time?It is - what am I spending time on that is not worth the time I am giving it?

Time is not scarce. Clarity about what matters is.