Are You Addicted to Being Busy?

May 7, 2025

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What if your addiction to hustle is the very thing holding your business back?

In this episode, Bill unpacks the hidden addiction that plagues so many leaders: the need to feel busy. He explores how overworking, micromanaging, and always being “on” isn’t just unsustainable, but also a failure of effective leadership. Bill shares powerful stories of CEOs who broke the cycle and built stronger teams by stepping back, letting go, and empowering others to rise up to the occasion.

Topics explored in this episode:

(0:10) The Hidden Costs of Busyness

*Being constantly busy feels productive, but it's actually a trap.

*Imagine a world where you could step back and things don’t fall apart.

(1:00) Case Study of a Fitness CEO

*A thriving business, healthy personal life, and empowered team; you can do it all by doing less.

*Why nudging, not rescuing, is the key to accountability and performance.

(3:15) The Output is More Important Than ‘Busy’

*Entrepreneurs love to glamorize their busyness, but true effectiveness is about results generated.

(5:35) Let’s Take the Summer Off!

*Bill shares a story of how he restructured his company so he could take a month off and finally…relax!

(6:15) Building a Team That Thinks for Itself

*Practical strategies for creating team ownership, like asking instead of solving.

*Stop solving problems for other people.

*Train yourself out of the ‘fixer’ role.

(8:10) From Founder to Scaler

*You can grow a business that thrives without you—and one you’re proud to sell (or keep).

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the Scaling Up Business podcast, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

Join Bill in the Growth Navigator Coaching Program: https://ScalingCoach.com/workshop

Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/BillGall

Bill on YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@BillGallagherScalingCoach

Visit https://ScalingUp.com to learn more about Verne Harnish, our team of Scaling Up Coaches, and the Scaling Up Performance Platform, which includes coaching, learning, software, and summit. We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail. We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around people, strategy, execution, and cash so that they can scale up successfully and beat the odds of business growth.

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