Deadlines drive the built environment. Whether it’s council approvals, project milestones, or client handovers, timeframes are always shrinking while expectations grow.
But there’s a hidden cost.
Across Australia, psychological injuries now account for a rapidly growing share of compensation claims. These cost 4x more and last 4x longer than physical injuries (1). Burnout here is 13% higher than the global average (2). And 55% of workers say they feel “rattled”, and 23% feel significantly “overloaded.” (3).
Behind those numbers are stories and sacrifices leaders know all too well. One project director told me:
“I missed my daughter’s award ceremony because of a client deadline, and I’m still wondering if it was worth it.”
For many, the “urgency” baked into our industry has become indistinguishable from crisis. What started as drive and ambition often (and increasingly) erodes into fatigue, disconnection, and attrition.
The Science Behind the Urgency
So if you’re like me, and you’ve felt that there’s never enough time, there’s science behind it.
Feeling pressed for time diminishes our cognitive (mental) bandwidth, making planning, problem-solving, and design decisions harder (4). For project managers juggling multiple deadlines, this can mean critical details slip through the cracks or innovative solutions are overlooked.
Constant switching between tasks, approvals, and meetings results in decision fatigue which depletes the prefrontal cortex, reducing focus and effort-based decision-making (5). On site or in the studio, this manifests as rushed judgments, repeated rework, or delayed responses to clients and consultants.
Stepping back isn’t wasted time. The brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) activates during rest and reflection, fueling creative thinking and problem-solving showing us that rest is essential for productivity. Innovative firms leverage mindfulness and structured downtime to unlock innovation (6). In construction and architecture, deliberately built pauses, whether through RDOs, staggered start times, or quiet thinking sessions can help teams develop smarter solutions and avoid burnout.
Knowing this, we can start to integrate new ways of working and relating to time. Not just for ourselves, but across teams and systems.
Practices
(Explore, Reflect, Experiment)
Here is an exercise I do with my clients to re-design how their systems address urgency and overload. Have a go yourself. You’ll find that this builds awareness of our situation and helps us learn not only where the friction exists, but why.
Let’s start by removing, not adding things to do. I call this the ‘Elimination Exercise’.
1. Personal – What will you eliminate to protect your wellbeing and energy?
In practice:
- Don’t sacrifice recovery (sleep, exercise, family time) for “urgent” work.
- Don’t check emails/messages outside agreed boundaries.
- Don’t say “yes” when your instinct says “this will cost more than it gives.”
TEST IT: When your direct report or manager asks you to respond in less than 24 hours (ie: requires you to do work outside of office hours), how will you respond?
2. Operational – What will you eliminate to protect your/your team’s productivity and risk management?
In practice:
- Don’t attend meetings without clear purpose, agenda, or outcomes.
- Don’t approve work without scope clarity and accountability.
- Don’t bypass safety or compliance for the sake of speed.
TEST IT: When you’re asked to join a meeting without an agenda, how will you respond?
3. Leadership – What will you eliminate to protect trust and integrity?
In practice:
- Don’t overpromise to clients, boards, or teams.
- Don’t ignore early warning signs of burnout or attrition.
- Don’t delay hard conversations — silence erodes trust.
TEST IT: When you notice a team member’s poor behaviour, how and when will you respond?
4. Strategic – What will you eliminate to protect focus and commercial outcomes?
In practice:
- Don’t take on projects outside our core purpose or capability.
- Don’t commit resources without clear ROI or strategic alignment.
- Don’t measure success only by speed or cost — ignore quality, culture, or sustainability.
TEST IT: When you’re asked to spread your team thin when they are already showing signs of fatigue, how will you respond?
The question for leaders and organisations is not whether deadlines matter (they always will), but whether urgency is serving your people, your projects, and your long-term legacy.
Field Notes
(Reflections & Observations)
- Managing time isn’t just about schedules or hours billed. It’s about protecting cognitive space, sustaining focus, and creating conditions for creativity. All of these, when awakened, improve project outcomes, team wellbeing, and organisational resilience.
- It’s one thing to notice the problem. It’s another to understand how it shows up in our work and lives, and where we might intervene.
This brings us to the question of focus: what are we actually prioritising, and how?
Stay tuned for next week’s edition where we explore shifting our focus!
References
Roger E. Beaty, Daniel L. Schacter (2017). Creativity, Self-Generated Thought, and the Brain’s Default Network, Science Direct ↩
Safe Work Australia (2024), New report on psychological health in Australian workplaces, Safe Work Australia ↩
Mental Health First Aid (2023), Navigating burnout, Tips for Mental Health, Mental Health First Aid ↩
Dexter Tilo (2025), Nearly a quarter of Aussies ‘overloaded’ at work: report, HRD (Human Resources Director AU) ↩
Kyle Kowalski (2025), Mental Bandwidth Management is the New Time Management, Sloww ↩
Grace Steward, Vivian Looi and Vikram S. Chib (2025). The Neurobiology of Cognitive Fatigue and Its Influence on Effort-Based Choice, JNeurosci – The Journal of Neuroscience ↩
