If you’ve spent any time online lately, you’ve seen the maxers. Looks maxing. Sleep maxing. Wallet maxing. The concept isn’t crazy: find what works, do more of it. There’s something almost admirable about the commitment.

The problem is that maxing and optimizing aren’t the same thing. More isn’t necessarily better. More is just more.

I’ve sat in a lot of rooms full of busy, capable, genuinely hard-working people who are nonetheless completely lost. The calendar is packed. The status updates are green. The consultants are billing. And the thing that needed to get better six months ago has not gotten better.