Half the Day, Gone to Emails: A Rant on Burnout, Tech, and What Work Should Feel Like

A parking spot standoff sets the tone for a blunt look at a headline that won’t die: half of our workday is supposedly swallowed by “busy work.” We unpack what that really means, where the numbers feel inflated, and where the pain is absolutely real—think login mazes, clunky forms, scattered files, and tools that don’t talk to each other. We push past the hot takes to ask a better question: which tasks are truly waste, which are necessary scaffolding, and how do we make the unavoidable parts fast, quiet, and almost invisible?

We bring lived experience to the table—from car-sales paperwork that felt thicker than a mortgage to modern workflows that splinter attention across tabs and approvals. Along the way, we dissect the promise and pitfalls of AI at work, the difference between integration and tool sprawl, and practical ways to cut friction without creating new headaches. Expect straight talk on email triage, calendar chaos, and the small automations that add up: sane sign-ons, reusable templates, pre-filled forms, and shared naming conventions that make search a win instead of a wager.

The conversation lands on agency and identity. If your day is crushed by ritual, you can redesign it with data-backed proposals that tie improvements to cycle time and error rates. And if the role itself isn’t for you, it’s ok to admit it—there’s power in pivoting toward hands-on work, trades, or any craft that matches how you like to build. We also pose a simple, revealing question: if you could go back, what work would you choose—and what’s the smallest step you can take toward it now?

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Your stories and do-over dreams help shape what we dig into next.

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Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Parking Spot Chaos & Mood Set
• 0:59 The “Busy Work” Study Overview
• 2:34 Paperwork War Stories from Car Sales
• 5:09 Tech Frustrations & Survey Skepticism
• 7:24 What Counts as “Repetitive Work”?
• 9:34 Are Better Tools or AI the Answer?
• 11:09 Tough Love: Don’t Like It? Change It

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Well, this is gonna be a day today. I pull up to work and to go to my regular parking spot and there's a damn lawn care guy here spraying the spraying the yard or whatever you call it, the lawn. What the hell? It is blocking me? Irritated, irritated, plus I didn't have enough time this morning to pick out all of the topics I wanted to talk about. I only have one for you, so we're gonna stumble through this. Uh why half your workday seems like a waste, and the reason you feel so drained, this is from a new study. And let me tell you, it is a bunch of BS. These people now want to complain about doing regular everyday tasks, you know, checking email, doing time expenses, filling out time cards. What? What is the what is the matter with these people, these little baby crying people? American workers say they're drowning in busy work and it's draining productivity, fueling stress, and even pushing some to quit. No, let me tell you about paperwork. When you sell cars, I the paperwork is like a frickin' novel you have to fill out. That's how thick it is. All this, especially for jaguars and um jaguar Land Rovers. Oh my gosh, it's ridiculous. BMW was just as bad. Maybe it was just a dealership I worked for. I don't know, but the paperwork was ridiculous. I hated that part of the job. Everything. Uh it took up a lot of time. It was worse than buying a house. All right, so that's according to a poll of 2,000 white collar and knowledge work. Knowledge workers? What does that mean? That's according to a poll of 2,000 white-collar and knowledge workers and 1,000 IT decision makers. Oh, well, excuse me, knowledge workers. What the f is that? Results showed these employees are losing an estimated half of their day. Bullshit. 51% total work hours estimated on tedious, low-value tasks like copying and pasting. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Heaven forbid. Managing emails. Oh, that's the worst. Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. And data entry. Oh, heaven's forbid. Oh, how can they go on? In fact, one in three res respondents has considered quitting a job because of outdated or frustrating tech, and a similar number, 33% of workers believe that their current work technology is contributing to feelings of stress. We have all kinds of technology today. I don't know what the hell they're talking about. It is crazy. Just to log into something. And all the different things you have to log into, that I will agree with. Um, conducted by Talker Research on behalf of HP, the survey also found that 85% of workers said repetitive tasks are top contributor to burnout. I don't know what they mean by that. Repetitive stuff. What does that mean? Respondents also said that repetitive tasks triggered stress four times a week. Oh, these poor people with their stress and their office work, bless their little pee picking hearts more than 200 times a year, while workplace technology itself disrupts focus about three times a week. Beyond heightening stress, neg or repetitive tasks breed apathy, leaving employees disengaged and less invested in their work. I wish they would tell me what they mean. What what are what give me an example? And robbing them of time to think creatively, solve problems, and collaborate meaningfully. Uh-huh. What does that mean? Talk about Love Island or something when you're standing around the coffee maker. An overwhelming 76% of IT decision makers said their company employees are wasting too much time on menial work. Menial work. What is that? Oh that's right, because they're knowledge thinkers. They're knowledge workers. I just want to err. These findings highlight a growing disconnect between the work people are hired and inspired to do and the work they actually spend time on, said Amy Winhoven, global head of business personnel systems and alliance marketing for HP. Well that's a mouthful, isn't it? I bet she's a winner. When creative potential is buried under administrative burden, companies waste talent. Those who prioritize work that is fulfilling and unlock growth, those that don't will fail, be will fall behind. Oh, so now we need to be creative at work. Is that what they're saying? You need to express your creativity and not worry about having to check emails and do time expense reports and you know clock in and do your time card and all that stuff. Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. These people, I swear. The top time drains? Here we go. Writing emails. Oh, heaven forbid. Data management, whatever that means, catching up on team communications and digging through files or emails. Oh gosh, that's so horrifying. Workers also pointed to managing calendars and meetings. Oh my goodness gracious, I can't believe it. Report uh reporting, troubleshooting tech issues, and filling out forms like timesheets and expense reports. Oh my gosh, heaven forbid. You know how long it takes me to fill out my time card? Two minutes, maybe? That's that's and all that is logging in. Wow. Two minutes. Wow. These people, I swear. Even as workers lose half their day to b half their day to busy work, that I call bullshit on that. Ah uh fewer than four in ten believe their employer is giving them the right tools to succeed. Just 37% strongly agree their current tools allow them to do their work, and only 39% believe their employer is equipping them to thrive in today's fast-changing environment. That can disconnect fuels, frustration, stress, and disengagement. These people employees say they're eager to for simpler, smarter tools. Like what? Well, come up with something. Oh, that's right. They're too busy. They're too busy doing busy work. Oh, if you don't like your job, move on to something else. These people, I swear, I know I keep repeating myself. I'm just dumbfounded by this. So employees say they're eager for they're eager for simpler, smarter tools that free them from repetitive tasks like data management, writing emails, filling out forms, and organizing files. What kind of job do you have where you're doing that all frickin' day? That's what I want to know. And IT leaders are listening. 70% of IT decision makers say they plan to roll out integrated AI tools. Well, there you go. In the next 12 months, what does that mean? Other priorities, yeah, let's not do that. Other priorities include faster device performance, better collaboration software, and more automation. With workplace tech still facing short for many employees, it's clear the promise of innovation hasn't caught up with reality. But what do you want? What do you you want the computers to just start thinking for you and just say, hey, read my mind and do my work? Is that what you want? I swear I can't with these people. All right, that's all I've got. Really? I mean, what is the world coming to with these people like that, these knowledge workers complaining about doing a time card? Get off. Get off. Get off of it. Alright, we need I need to move on. This guy is still here spraying and blocking my parking spot. I'll put a picture of it out on X. I'm really upset. He needs to come and move his damn truck. Really? Oh, okay. Um, let's see. Oh, question of the day. Okay, I know this is a weird question. I guess it's not really weird. It's but we're going with it. If you could go back and change your job, what would you want to do instead of what you did? Or have you always did you always want to do what you what you did? I, you know, I kind of my whole life just kind of fell into all of my jobs, believe it or not. I never had a set path. And I admire people who do that, who know what they want, they go after it, they do the work, they go to college, they they dedicate themselves. That that and then sports, they do that with sports too. I just I just admire the crap out of that. I never did any of that. I just kind of fell into everything, and I'm I'm upset about it. But you know, whatever. It is what it is now. I'm 58, so whatever. I like my job now, it's okay. It's a job, it gives me something to do during the day. It's not bad, it's not stressful, it's okay. Um, and it gives us health insurance. Well, uh well, it does cost me a lot of money to work to get my health insurance, uh, to cover just me and the gent. But anyway, yeah, so if I could go back and do it all again, I don't know. I've changed my mind so many times. I mean, obviously, we can't go back and do that, so this is really a ridiculous question, but I'm asking it anyway. I think I would either want to be an actress, or or what I'd really would like to do, what I really sh wish I would have done, and you're gonna laugh at me. You're gonna laugh your ass off at me. I wish that I had gone through a trade school and and gotten and learned something like that. And I think I'm definitely a hands-on type person. So either something in cosmetology, but then I don't know if I want to, I don't know if I'd want to work with hair. And I'd I'd want to do something like skincare makeup, maybe, but I don't know, maybe something else entirely, some kind of trade school. I wish I had done that. Okay, that's it. I'm rambling, so you guys have a great day. It's Wednesday, we'll get through it. This guy needs to move his truck so I can park my car where I normally park. You're throwing me off, dude. Okay, gotta go. Bye.