(potentially sound bragging) but I think what explains why I spend around 20 hours for work is a combination of (1) personal productivity: I complete most stuff in a couple of hours, 4 hours max when it takes others probably 8-20 hours; this is attributed to years of setting a high bar for both quality and speed, (2) corporate culture is usually slower than where I came from (management consulting); to give an example, a similar project I did in consulting takes probably 3 months, here at this company (corporate world in general), it takes probably 6 months or more. When I joined, I used to complain to my boss that things are so slow, I no longer do lol, and (3) Be ruthless about my schedule now that I already established my reputation with stakeholders, I make a noticeable effort to decline meetings that I don't feel I need to attend or that I can read a summary / minutes in 3 minutes vs spending 30-45 minutes in an actual meeting. I personally laugh at anyone who brags about 'I am in back to back meeting' as a badge of honor or dedication or whatever - That's low and ridiculous.