Since falling in love with Inbox Zero and really Getting Things Done lately while working only four hours a week (hahahaha! – not!), I find that I now have another new methodology for taking back my work time. I’m calling it Calendar Zero.
I’ve picked one and a half days a week and declared them meeting free zones. One is a full day and the other is a morning. I’m not going to schedule meetings during those times unless it’s one I really need to do and the only possibility is to do it on that day. For example, if someone is in town just for one day and we really need to meet, then we will.
I found that I wasn’t getting enough dedicated blocks of time to myself to process my to do list. I was recently offered a “secret hiding spot” to work from once in a while and have started to take advantage of it. This is a place where I can be productive away from my normal “office life”. But it’s not at home – I’ve learned from experience that I don’t get as much done at home. Too many distractions.
Today is my first full day of Calendar Zero. I’ll let you know how it’s going once I get some more experience.
Tomorrow is a more typical day. I have 8 meetings planned. I’ll be meeting 3 new people, having a second meeting with one more person, helping a college group led by someone I know, and getting updates or doing business development with the balance. Total planned meeting time is over six hours of my day. This is not at all unusual. So I’m fighting back against my calendar. I’ll now fill up some days efficiently like this, using the old trick of scheduling only half hour meetings unless absolutely necessary. I’ll jam email and to do list processing into the cracks and crevices of those days. But then I’ll block off my Calendar Zero time for my own focused time to crank through my to do list and work on strategic stuff.
I’m already getting that nice Inbox Zero “ahhhhh” feeling again.
