Busyness is a survival strategy. Nobody can possibly meet all these targets and KPIs and dynamic 'roadmaps' to success , so your best bet’s just to be constantly ‘busy’, 9 to 5, and kick it down the line to the next person.
My boss got a bit cranky with me in late 2021 because I hadn’t taken annual leave all year (well, would you squander your holiday during a lockdown?), so I needed to take late November and all of December off. I had to explain to him, I was so damn BUSY during the year, I didn’t have time for a luxury like ‘holidays’. I even suggested that some of our line managers who DID responsibly book their annual leave probably weren’t that busy after all!…and he said “Yes, that is something to consider…I just don’t want you to burn yourself out”!! I wasn’t born conniving but I am a quick learner.
It’s the M.A.D. of the office world. Don’t pull me away from watching my mates DJ mid-afternoon on FB Live, and we'll all pretend you haven’t spent the past six hours playing Candy Crush.