The Busyness Paradox

Here at the Busyness Paradox, we share a deep and sincere commitment to not giving a rat's a** about the antics of the inexplicably famous. But we bear no ill will toward those who lean in to the meta-paradoxical wonderland of unearned success and fame derived from being famous. Except when the undisputed queen of this leisure class declares 51% of the population to be lazy dregs who "do...

Excessive busyness is bad, especially when you don't have enough of it. Not gonna lie, even we at “The Busyness Paradox” didn’t see that busyness paradox coming. Two researchers in France did, however, and we’re  joined by one of them! Dr. Ioana Lupu’s recently-published study shows how our relentless pursuit of “optimal busyness” - that euphoric, Goldilocks state of productivity that exists...

As the Business Paradox returns from a quick break, we take a few minutes to answer your questions, take stock of the Business Paradox's first 15 months of existence, and reflect on the time we started a heated hoodie cult. Come visit us at busynessparadox.com to see episode transcripts,   blog posts and other content while you’re there!

This just in: A guy asked for a billion-dollar bonus. Late-breaking reports (from last week) indicate that it went...poorly. As always, The Busyness Paradox is nowhere near the action, bringing you our on-the-spot analysis of this ballsy Bolivian billionaire's brash beatdown (fine, "Bolivian-American" but we had a good thing going with that alliteration). Mentioned in this "bre...

What’s a paradoxical pay raise? It’s the kind where you get a raise and earn less than you did before. “Impossible!” you say? Odds are good you’ll soon think differently. On the one hand, companies big and small are socking away money to dole out raises in 2022. On the other, inflation is licking its lips, ready to devour those raises and go back for seconds. Join us as we discuss strategies for n...

Believe it or not, there was a time when having house cats interrupt work meetings was considered weird. Alas, we’ve been doing this pandemic thing for almost two years now and things have changed. We decided it was a good time to get a boots-on-the-ground perspective on just what those changes look like and how real-world companies have adapted. Join us as we discuss the new world of leadership,...

It’s time for one of our favorite new year’s traditions: blatantly ripping off another podcast’s new year’s tradition! Taking inspiration from the excellent Cortex show’s use of yearly themes, we take stock of our “Year of Structure” and look ahead to 2022’s theme. Join our discussion about how the “annual theme” approach can improve your work and non-work lives and let us know what wacky workplac...

*****BREAKING NEWS!!!****** Your (sort of) regularly scheduled episode of The Busyness Paradox has been postponed so that we can bring you coverage of a stunning development unfolding in Germany. Just moments ago, we learned that, 8 days ago, a German court single-handedly raised the bar for paradoxical workplace...stuff. In its landmark ruling, the Bundessozialgericht ruled that injuries sustaine...

Many people experience job burnout at some point in their lives. When they do, it's often the boss that takes the blame. But what happens when the boss burns out? Companies have been learning the answer to that question the hard way since the pandemic started. While executives develop policies to meet employees' needs for safe and flexible work arrangements, the actual implementation of...

Imagine a life where technological gains make us so productive that 15 hours a week constitutes a “full-time” job. The insane ramblings of two would-be men of leisure? Indeed. But also the prediction of a famous economist. No not the movie guy, the other one: John Maynard Keynes. According to his 1930 prediction, not only is such a reality possible, we’re about 20 years late in achieving it. Was K...

Feeling overworked and dreaming of a new job with lots of downtime? One where marathon solitaire sessions fill the time between naps and happy hours? Careful what you wish for…making 10 hours of work fill a 40-hour week ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.  If your employer is infected with the busyness bug, you’re likely to experience the delightfully paradoxical form of burnout that occurs when you’...

A while back, we published an episode called " Who You Callin' WUSI? " about the simple assessment we developed to measure employees' propensity to perceive abusive managerial behaviors where others do not. The show got way more interest than we anticipated, so naturally we've been looking for an excuse to revisit our beloved WUSI scale. So you can imagine our excitement w...

Have you ever considered supplementing your full-time job with...another full-time job? Is it even possible to work two full-time jobs simultaneously? In this episode we learn that yes, yes it is. How? By leveraging the inefficiencies of the arbitrary 40-hour work week (ruthlessly exposed by the shift to remote work) and using the idle time of one full-time job to do another full-time job. Sound c...

In the spirit of Halloween, we reflect on how a failed attempt at finding a gas station in upstate Vermont led us to ponder the question: do ghosts affect the workplace? No really, hear us out. Even if YOU don't believe in ghosts, some of your employees probably do. So what do you do if your staff refuses to work third shift, clean that one hotel room, or serve that semi-translucent customer...

You know those expressions like, "do more by doing less" and "work smarter not harder"? Bush league. In this episode we reveal the true secret to doing more: doing nothing. To much of the world, it's a bafflingly paradoxical truth. To the Dutch, it's simply called niksen. Articles and Books Mentioned in the Episode: Niksen: Why the Dutch concept of doing nothing is th...

Remember that movie where George Clooney flew around the world firing people so their actual bosses didn't have to? We were all aghast that learn that companies could outsource such a thing. Then we pictured ourselves as absurdly handsome jet-setters with super-elite frequent flyer status and wondered where we could sign up. Sadly the golden age of fire-for-hire has passed us by. Suddenly we&...

In this episode we reflect on Oliver Burkeman’s recent column, Escaping the Efficiency Trap - And Finding Some Piece of Mind and the paradoxical reality that the relentless pursuit of efficiency in our jobs and lives often leads to chronic inefficiency. People, products and links mentioned in this episode: Coach Bobby Bowden dies at 91 Sisyphus Escaping the Efficiency Trap and Finding Some Peace o...

In this episode, we discuss paid time off. While being paid to not work might seem like a paradoxical idea, we take it a step further and talk about why more paid time off can be a profitable move by employers. Historically, this view has not been as popular in the US as it is in the rest of the world, but are times changing? (Originally recorded April 2, 2021) Come visit us at busynessparadox.com...

In those heady days between the Covid vaccine roll-out and the Delta variant, a most unexpected paradox began to emerge. After a year of working from home and yearning for social interaction, millions of people got vaccinated and...stayed home. We had to call in reinforcements for this one, folks. David Cox , a Gallup-certified strengths coach, instructor, training specialist and former police off...

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So is your next performance evaluation. Everyone sees the world through their own perceptual lenses and we often form different perceptions of the same people, performance, and policies. Join us as we discuss strategies for managing these perceptions in the workplace - our own and those of the people we work with. Topics Discussed and Related Readings: 1:15 -...

A recent Forbes article titled, "Study shows people working from home are having sex, dating, taking naps and doing hustles on company time" (yes, that's the actual title) leads us to believe that either a) you all had a way more fun pandemic than we did or b) the article is a case study in bending statistics to fit your narrative. A decidedly pro-busywork narrative in this case. Jo...

It's April 2021. We've spend the past 15 months in a global pandemic. Unemployment rates are staggeringly high. What do you do? If you're like 4 million Americans, you quit your job! Please rate and subscribe/follow our podcast. Join the Busybody family and share your ideas or workplace experiences with us. If you have a topic you would like for us to cover, email us at input@busyne...

With Covid seemingly on the ropes, the world of work is poised to finally return to normal. Not everyone is thrilled about that. Some savor the end of makeshift home offices, Zoom meetings, and isolation from coworkers. Others dread the return of long commutes, office politics, and wearing pants. Many would like to see a hybrid blend of on-site and remote work become the new normal.  What's a...

An employee accuses you of being an abusive boss. Their proof? They THINK you’re an abusive boss.  Research has led many states to pass laws intended to protect employees from abusive supervisors. Sounds good, right? But who determines the difference between legitimate reprimands, constructive criticism and abuse? In this episode we discuss our largely ignored (until recently) attempt to remove so...

We Americans tend to look down on jobs that perform essential services while heaping praise on any gig that involves an office and a desk.  We Americans can't figure out why restaurants, hotels and retail establishments can't fill their rosters at a time of high unemployment.  Perhaps one paradox explains the other? If the list below is not formatted properly in your podcast app, click h...