High achievers rarely fear hard work.
What they fear, often unconsciously, is stillness.

I see this pattern everywhere: doctors, lawyers, founders, senior leaders. They’re moving fast, making decisions, filling diaries, pushing output. From the outside, it looks like momentum. From the inside, it feels like survival.

But motion isn’t the same as progress.
Sometimes it’s just a well-decorated form of avoidance.

The Culture That Rewards “Busy”

Harvard Business Review calls it a culture of busyness, workplaces (and professions) that reward visible activity over meaningful advancement. In that environment, pace becomes proof. Noise becomes validation.

Read more about The Noise of success here.

And the data backs it up. A UK study found that 54% of employees’ time is spent on “busywork”: low-value tasks that don’t move core objectives forward.

So the mirage isn’t personal weakness.
It’s a system that praises motion, even when it’s hollow.

Why the Brain Likes the Mirage

Psychologically, the mirage has teeth.

The brain rewards activity with dopamine: the hit you get from clearing emails, attending meetings, ticking boxes, and staying “on.” That reward cycle creates a feeling of progress even when the work is superficial.

A Columbia Business School study showed something even more revealing: when people feel busy at the moment they miss a deadline, they experience less failure and stay motivated, because busyness helps them justify the miss. In other words, feeling busy protects ego.

This is why so many high performers drift into productive avoidance. The pace feels like proof. The proof becomes identity.

The Coaching Interruption

This is where coaching becomes more than support; it’s an interruption.

A good coach steps outside your noise and asks what you stop asking when you’re in motion:

• What are you actually trying to achieve?
• Is this meaningful work or just movement?
• Are you chasing impact, or chasing dopamine?
• If you removed the busyness, what truth would you have to face?

In the Elevation Model™, this sits between Awareness and Breakthrough, where patterns get named, illusions collapse, and clarity re-enters the room.

Because when you’re in the waves, you can’t see the coastline.
Sometimes you need a lighthouse.

It is where clarity re-enters the room → Clarity as a CEO Superpower

And that’s when the mirage dissolves, and momentum becomes real again.

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I’m Laurence Loxam – I’ve pushed limits in business, on mountains, and at the finish line.

Now I help elite professionals do the same, pushing past the point most people stop.

I coach CEOs, doctors, lawyers, and founders who’ve hit success, but still feel there’s more.

Together, we unlock clarity, sharpen confidence, and lead with conviction.

🔗 loxamconsultingltd.org

📩 Ready for your next leadership breakthrough? Let’s connect.