In software development most of the work is thinking. I'm used to the concept that I don't need to seemingly be always doing something actively to it being counted at work. You just can't do that kind of work efficiently.
When I moved towards management this kind of work decreased. I felt like the job was more about sitting in meetings or talking with people. Not something you can do just by thinking. Of course there is a lot of thinking before and after those discussions as much as during them, but it still didn't feel the same as thinking about solving a hard technical problem.
Now my role is again different, and the job itself too. No more managing people, but still plenty of meetings. But my main job again is to think. To come up with new ways of working, new products and solutions. That's much harder than focusing on a single, well defined problem. That also takes a lot of time. This is something I need to start devoting more time - just to think. It feels a bit backwards, but after realizing this now it feels like filling my days with meetings and other things tht kept me busy was more pretending to work than clearing my calendar for "doing nothing".