Jonathan Miller thought the constant pings meant he was indispensable.
In reality, they were stealing his life.
He was a CTO.
Smart, capable, and always “on.”
Before we worked together, his days were a blur of Slack pings and DMs.
Every interruption felt urgent.
Every question landed on his plate.
The more responsive he became, the more dependent the team grew.
Workdays stretched longer.
Nights disappeared.
And he started missing moments with his kids he can’t get back.
The breaking point wasn’t burnout.
It was realizing he’d built a system that required his constant presence to function.
We didn’t fix this by hustling harder.
We fixed it by redesigning how work flowed.
Decision ownership was clarified.
Escalation rules were defined.
He stopped being the default answer for everything.
The noise dropped.
Decisions moved without escalation.
And his role shifted from responder to leader.
Today, Jonathan works 30 hours a week.
He gained 10 hours back for strategy and creative thinking.
More importantly, he’s present for his family again.
That’s what happens when the system no longer depends on you to survive.
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