3 Questions to Ask to Tame Your Meeting Schedule
Meetings, meetings, meetings. When done well, yes, they can be helpful and provide clarity. When not, they are a time suck and intrude on your day’s productivity. To tame my meeting schedule, I’ve started asking myself three questions every time I receive an invitation to attend one.
How is your meeting schedule lately? For much of 2022, I found myself in at least five to six hours of meetings per day. Not only was it exhausting, but it kept me from doing the actual work that needed to be done. It also reduced my productivity levels, and then increased my stress because I would leave many meetings with several additional to do’s for me to complete.
I had to do something to decrease the number of meetings and the time I spent overall in meetings — not only for my work performance but also for my well-being.
So I came up with three questions to ask myself before I accepted any meeting notice or scheduled a meeting with others. You may find these helpful too!
Question 1: Is this meeting mandatory?
First, I ask myself if the meeting is mandatory. If it is, then of course I must attend. I cannot get around it, and it is essential for my job. Much of the time, these meetings are helpful and worth the time spent in them. I realize that is not the case always — as a…
