Urgency isn’t the villain. Avoidance is.

I’ve been in roles where everything was labelled “urgent,” and the real issue was never the pace - it was the atmosphere it created. Frantic. Reactive. Lots of talking, not much changing.

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I see the same with many leaders now - full calendars, constant urgency, but none of it building real value or joy.

Urgency only becomes a problem when it replaces honesty and direction.

It’s not the speed that drains you.

It’s what you’re avoiding.

The polite version of burnout doesn’t look dramatic.

It looks like efficiency, pressure, responsibility… and the slow normalising of a pace that leaves no room for you.

Most leaders aren’t falling apart - they’re quietly running on empty.

The question isn’t “Can you keep going like this?”

It’s “What is it costing you to keep going like this?”

Last year, somewhere along the way, the joy slipped out of my work travel.

I went from exploring new places to doing the plane-hotel-plane routine on autopilot.

Miami was the wake-up... two days in a venue, not one step outside.

I realised I wasn’t choosing joy anymore… I was choosing “get through it.”

So 2026 is different: more space, more presence, more moments that actually matter.

If the joy’s gone, what’s the point?

Because success without joy isn’t success.