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# The Undue Focus on Work About Work
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/the-undue-focus-on-work-about-work/
- Published: 2020-09-14T14:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-09-17T18:15:02.000Z
- Description: In truth the problem with work is not the tools or the physical location, but the obsession with leadership , an undue focus on work about work.
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: Links, productivity, #Import 2023-06-01 22:41, #Import 2025-03-29 19:29

It's been a rough year, so you'll have to forgive the potential hyperbole, but this might be [my favorite quote of 2020](https://paulitaylor.com/2020/09/12/why-do-so-many-people-want-us-back-in-the-office/?ref=birchtree.me):

> In truth the problem with work is not the tools or the physical location, but [the obsession with leadership](https://paulitaylor.com/2020/01/03/ending-our-obsession-with-leadership/?ref=birchtree.me) , an undue focus on work about work, an overbearing hierarchy and the lack of true digitisation of the enterprise.

For some context, I'll re-share this Twitter poll from a few weeks ago:

> Fellow work from home folks! I'm curious how many meetings you have on your calendar per week. I'm trying to get a grasp on if my number is totally normal or absolutely insane.  
>  
> I'm at about 40 per week 😑
> 
> — Matt Birchler (@mattbirchler) [August 27, 2020](https://twitter.com/mattbirchler/status/1298974400750985216?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=birchtree.me)

I really enjoy working for my current employer, but since we went remote in March, the number of video meetings had exploded. My schedule was so jam-packed at the end of August that I had about 6 hours of time to do my actual work every week. And that number was before the "can I throw something on your schedule?" meetings that cropped up most days throughout the week.

This focus on "work about work" really clicks with me because I found myself largely talking about the things that I theoretically would be working on. Instead, I felt like a scientist who's suddenly on TV all the time: I was talking a lot about work, but I didn't have time to actually do much work anymore. I was being paid more to talk about work than to do work.

Since then, I've been brutal with cutting meetings from my schedule. Daily stand ups: now I go 2x a week. "Office hours" meetings: I'm down to 1, maybe 2\. The "can I throw something on your calendar?" requests: all get a "can you Slack me the question?" response, and it turns out every single one has worked great in a short message, no 30-60 minute meeting required.

The difference in my productivty, and more importantly to me, my sanity, has been huge and my only regret is not doing this sooner.