You're not failing- you're overfunctioning
If you’re a service business owner with over 10 staff, often you don’t have an issue with your time management- you have an issue with ownership.
I set up my clinical business, Wellness Embodied, as a sole practitioner in a single clinic room in Cairns. Fast forward 9 years and its based across 2 clinics, with a multi- disciplinary team of more than 20. I’ve worked HARD to design a role that uses my strengths, energises me ( mostly) and allows me to live a life a where I do many things I’m passionate about: building my speaking and coaching business, where I work with teams worldwide to develop sustainable high performance. Competing in crazier and crazier endurance challenges- most recently, running 270km on trails from Sydney- Newcastle. And travelling- to visit family overseas, to run, to scuba dive and very occasionally- to actually relax!
So, I get business ownership! You already know how to work hard. You can sell. You can deliver. You can fix problems fast. That is EXACTLY why the business keeps routing everything through you.
From the outside, this can look like success: a stable, profitable operation with a real team, strong standards, and a founder who always comes through. I’ve been there. Winning awards, everyone telling me how great I was- but internally, run ragged!
Mostly, I think I’ve fixed this! My social media - speaking videos, client workshops, travel, trail runs- would definitely tell you I have. But my time tracker last week told a different story- one which I’d love to share some insights from!
Firstly: my days were FULL of context switches! I have a rhythm for planning, focussed work blocks- I even have a default diary ( that is also on my list to review!) . But months of travel, changes, different seasons in business, big decisions- suddenly the default diary is hidden at the back of my actual diary. And the time tracker in it that told a different story.
Secondly, I tracked the ‘quick checks’ that I should absolutely not hold the decisions for anymore. The tasks which I’ve taken on to be helpful because it’s quick for me to do. The questions or checks in the clinic which are double or triple handled because it’s easier to just ask me to check the piece of equipment or the accounting software.
And the beauty of doing this last week is that it was a VERY fatigued week for me! The Easter run, followed by travel to speak in Brazil had all caught up and I was quite honestly, at about 60% cognitive function. These quick checks and questions and re-dos which normally may have taken me 10-15 minutes each, suddenly drained me more than before. And it became very easy to put them on the delegate list. To prioritise what needs to be automated, what needs a decision making framework around it, who can have more responsibility. Now- they go into my pipeline and future week priorities- one at a time. Not ten! Not on some never ending to do list. But where they’ll fit realistically in my calendar in this season. I’m excited- and I wish I hadn’t left it so long between time tracking sessions.
So if this is you: Your day is a thousand context switches. A message about a client issue. A decision about pricing. A staff question about what “good” looks like. A handoff that is missing one detail (so you fill it in). A fire that should not be a fire (so you put it out anyway).
You’re not failing- You’re over-functioning.
And the real cost isn’t time. It’s the erosion of your genius. Loss of your leadership identity. The slow breakdown of the legacy you’d like to leave. Most people don’t start businesses to become a slightly better paid but highly stressed task router.
So what actually changes things?
Not a productivity hack. Not another hire. Not pushing through to the other side of busy.
It’s stopping long enough to look at where you’re actually spending yourself - like a time tracker, even when (especially when) you don’t want to.
Then picking one thing. Not ten. One decision you can get out of your head and into a shared standard. One area where someone else can own the outcome. One rhythm that means your team stops defaulting to you.
That’s it. Start there.
And if you want a second set of eyes on where the bottleneck actually is in your business, let’s talk.
Originally published in my 20% More newsletter on LinkedIn on 6 May 2026.
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