Capacity Hoarding · also called staying full on purpose
why do I keep clients or projects that are not worth it
Capacity hoarding is holding onto low-value obligations — a client who barely pays, a project that is already dead, a commitment nobody would miss — because an empty calendar slot feels like proof you do not have enough going on. It keeps you busy and slow at once: every hour protecting a full schedule is an hour not spent building something that moves.
A full calendar is not proof you are in demand. Sometimes it is just proof you are afraid of what an empty one would say about you.
What to do about it
Name the one commitment on your plate that pays or matters the least, and end it this week without replacing it with anything new.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
The Purpose Blueprint$6.99
The Purpose Math$6.99
Stop Borrowed Purpose$6.99
No Performative Purpose$6.99
Pay The Purpose$6.99
The Purpose Decade$6.99
Find Your Fight$6.99
Midlife Is Audit$6.99Part of the Purpose series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- why do I keep clients or projects that are not worth it
- I am afraid of having free time show up on my calendar
- staying busy feels safer than being idle even when the busy is pointless
- I keep low-value work because quitting it feels like failing
- how do I let go of a commitment that is not worth my time
- an empty schedule makes me anxious for no reason
- I stay overcommitted with things that do not actually matter
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.