Busy and productive have become conflated. Being ‘back to back’ is like an anti badge of honour. Busyness makes us feel important. It stems from a culture of presenteeism where to be seen spending long hours at your desk was somehow a measure of your commitment and effort. The problem with being busy is that we often can’t account for what we are doing. When that happens we are simply expanding work to fill up available time. Prioritising our time actually gives us back time to spend more wisely. If we don’t say no to things that don’t make a difference, others won’t either.