I’ve never forgotten the advice that a good budget should be like a good butler: sometimes it asks “are you quite sure?” and other times it says “very good, I’ll see to that right away.”
Every workday our brains can give us 4 hours of intensely productive time, maybe 6 hours on a really good day. Your calendar shouldn’t be a mean boss that tells you what to do all the time. Your calendar should be a good butler or overzealous personal assistant whose entire job is to protect those productive hours.
What might this look like?
- Blocking off regular time for yourself to do specific intense work and holding it sacred.
- Blocking off regular time to step away from your computer and partake in an activity that re-energizes you, and holding this time sacred.
- Doing some trial and error to identify a few activities that genuinely re-energize you.
- Proactively blocking off downtime on days you notice your schedule filling up.
- Expecting to “run out” of productive hours early on days you start work early.
- Giving yourself light mornings on days you’re committed to intense work in the afternoon.
- Only working after-hours on days you were unavailable due to a prolonged personal commitment and therefore have productive brain time “saved up”.
- Only accepting meeting invites that have an agenda or other details (“decline with comments” is your best friend).
- Only accepting meeting invites that come with at least a day’s notice (again, decline with comments).
- Asking people to send you a calendar invite rather than accepting impromptu calls.
- Asking people to send you a calendar invite rather than agreeing to talk to them “later.”
Liz Welsh 