This was an incredible read. I've used my calendar to organize my tasks for years now and since a year or so I started adding focused time in my calendar and it has helped me move forward complex projects which otherwise would've been impossible to complete. I recommend the technique. One other thing that has helped me is to identify a day which usually is low in meetings, for me is Wednesdays, and block it as a meetings-free-day. Occasionally I'd have a short meeting before noon, but no more.
Amazing! Thank you so much Laura! 🤗 I personally find it hard to find a meeting free day since I’m already limiting meeting time to mainly afternoons, but this might depend on the role. If you can carve that out awesome!!
Great read, very similar to techniques shared in "Make Time" book although your suggestions are much more granular and tangible. Thanks for sharing your productivity hacks 😀 I would be curious to know if you have any analytics on how it went in practice (say 3/5 times in a week where focus time got disrupted/rescheduled). Also request you to share some insights on having "solid to-do lists" and being on top of it.
Hey Shubhang, yes Make Time was on my research list, really good read! Thank you so much for your feedback 🤗 on average this schedule and focus time works out 4/5 days a week for me. The more common problem I face is being disciplined and always using scheduled focus time on actual deep thinking work rather than lots of small tasks I could have done in between meetings. Reviewing my goals on a Monday morning and setting clear tasks for my focus time that week helps with that though.
Have you faced any challenges with scheduling meetings between 1-4pm only? My work is client facing so this makes it tricky.
Also 100% agree that "The feeling of helplessness and perceived lack of control greatly raise our stress levels", but I wonder if increasing perceived control is just a band-aid fix. Inevitably we can never have 100% control. In addition to reducing uncertainty where we can, I'm curious how we can reduce our stress response to it all together.
I've now spent many years being client facing as well so I know the struggle. It takes some discipline to stick to it and not every day will be perfect e.g. some meetings can only happen in the morning, so make sure you schedule focus time later that day instead. In the end it's benefitting your work and quality of your work, which will benefit your clients!
I totally agree with you it's not the only answer to all your work related stress problems. It does use the principle of focusing on the things you can control, and letting go of the things you can't control though which can be very helpful. I'm also a big advocate for creating healthy daily habits to reduce overall stress - might be a great idea for future posts if this is something people are interested in? 😃
This was an incredible read. I've used my calendar to organize my tasks for years now and since a year or so I started adding focused time in my calendar and it has helped me move forward complex projects which otherwise would've been impossible to complete. I recommend the technique. One other thing that has helped me is to identify a day which usually is low in meetings, for me is Wednesdays, and block it as a meetings-free-day. Occasionally I'd have a short meeting before noon, but no more.
Amazing! Thank you so much Laura! 🤗 I personally find it hard to find a meeting free day since I’m already limiting meeting time to mainly afternoons, but this might depend on the role. If you can carve that out awesome!!
Great read, very similar to techniques shared in "Make Time" book although your suggestions are much more granular and tangible. Thanks for sharing your productivity hacks 😀 I would be curious to know if you have any analytics on how it went in practice (say 3/5 times in a week where focus time got disrupted/rescheduled). Also request you to share some insights on having "solid to-do lists" and being on top of it.
Hey Shubhang, yes Make Time was on my research list, really good read! Thank you so much for your feedback 🤗 on average this schedule and focus time works out 4/5 days a week for me. The more common problem I face is being disciplined and always using scheduled focus time on actual deep thinking work rather than lots of small tasks I could have done in between meetings. Reviewing my goals on a Monday morning and setting clear tasks for my focus time that week helps with that though.
Have you faced any challenges with scheduling meetings between 1-4pm only? My work is client facing so this makes it tricky.
Also 100% agree that "The feeling of helplessness and perceived lack of control greatly raise our stress levels", but I wonder if increasing perceived control is just a band-aid fix. Inevitably we can never have 100% control. In addition to reducing uncertainty where we can, I'm curious how we can reduce our stress response to it all together.
Hey Jack - thanks for sharing your thoughts! 🙏
I've now spent many years being client facing as well so I know the struggle. It takes some discipline to stick to it and not every day will be perfect e.g. some meetings can only happen in the morning, so make sure you schedule focus time later that day instead. In the end it's benefitting your work and quality of your work, which will benefit your clients!
I totally agree with you it's not the only answer to all your work related stress problems. It does use the principle of focusing on the things you can control, and letting go of the things you can't control though which can be very helpful. I'm also a big advocate for creating healthy daily habits to reduce overall stress - might be a great idea for future posts if this is something people are interested in? 😃