079: "Do You Really Need to Be This Busy?" ft. Alli Murphy
This episode is a much-needed intervention on the culture of busy. Erik sits down with Alli Murphy, leadership coach, founder of The Elevate Lab, and creator of The Thrive Report, to unpack the toxic myths of productivity, the glorification of hustle, and how to actually define what matters most.
Together, they explore what it looks like to lead with intention, how to give yourself permission to rest, and why the high performers we admire (from LeBron to airline pilots) build recovery into their systems—not as an afterthought, but as a strategy.
This isn’t just a conversation about burnout—it’s a roadmap out of it.
👤 About the Guest
Alli Murphy is a leadership and team development expert with a bold mission: help people and organizations actually thrive. Through her work with The Elevate Lab and The Thrive Report, Alli equips mission-driven leaders to step back, refocus, and redesign how they lead—with more permission, more clarity, and more joy. She brings warmth, humor, and serious strategy to the conversation on how we work and live.
🧭 Conversation Highlights
- Amy Poehler, 104-degree fevers, and the productivity myth that just won’t die
- When Erik kicked a rep out of a sales meeting for showing up sick—and why Alli did the same remotely
- How to break the reflexive “just get it done” mindset that keeps us exhausted
- The hidden brilliance of asking, what really has to happen today? (and then asking it again)
- A nervous system “recess” as a productivity tool
- Why elite performers like LeBron James and airline pilots treat rest as non-negotiable strategy
💡 Key Takeaways
- Urgent and important are not the same thing. And 95% of “urgency” is human-made chaos.
- Rest isn’t a reward—it’s part of high performance.
- Clarity beats hustle. Ask: “What actually has to get done today?” Then ask it again.
- Permission is leadership. Especially for yourself.
- High-functioning teams normalize recovery, not overextension.
❓ Questions That Mattered
- What does it actually mean to take a sick day—and why is it so hard for leaders to do it?
- Is our obsession with urgency just a distraction from strategic work?
- What would it look like if rest was baked into your calendar like a meeting?
- Who are we really trying to impress by staying busy?
- Can two priorities a day be enough?
🗣️ Notable Quotes
“You have permission to use your sick days.” — Alli Murphy
“Rest isn’t a reward. It’s part of the strategy.” — Erik Berglund
“Most urgent things at work? Human manufactured.” — Alli Murphy
“If everything’s on fire, nothing’s on fire.”
“Busy isn’t impressive. Clarity is.”
🔗 Links & Resources
