You are probably working on things that should not exist anymore.
Over time, work accumulates.
Extra steps.
Extra approvals.
Extra updates.
No one questions them.
They just stay.
So work becomes heavier.
Not because it is harder.
Because it is cluttered.
This is where most professionals get stuck.
They respond by adding more effort.
More time.
More coordination.
More energy.
But effort does not fix clutter.
Simplification does.
Growth is not always about doing better.
Sometimes it is about doing less.
Removing one unnecessary step can save hours.
It can remove confusion.
It can speed up decisions.
But most people never remove.
They only add.
What is one thing in your work that exists only because no one questioned it?
What are you simplifying next?
I've been working a lot lately, but not necessarily from my desk.
We've had family visiting this month, so I've spent a lot of my days showing them around, taking little trips, working from cafés, answering messages on trains, and squeezing work into whatever space I can find.
And honestly, I love that my work allows me to do that. Being able to move around, travel, spend time with family and still work from wherever I happen to be is one of the things I value most about working for myself.
But there's a bit of a contradiction in that flexibility that I've been feeling lately: the more freedom I have over where and when I work, the harder it can be to actually stop working.
There's always something I could do. One more email, one more thing to finish, one more hour I could squeeze in before going out or while I'm waiting for the train.
And sometimes I think the hardest part isn't having time off.