Why my coworkers are dead to me on Wednesdays
“Meetings are evil,” I said. “They’re a waste of time. They cut into real work. They’re just a bunch of lazy people avoiding work by talking about work. 100% pure evil.”
That was me, circa 2007, as a web developer.
Fast forward to 2017. Now half of my week is spent in meetings: leadership meetings, department meetings, 1 on 1’s, content reviews and the constant revolving door of interviewing frightened candidates.
Here’s the thing: meetings are essential. They’re necessary for good management. When done right, meetings are just purposeful conversations that help people accomplish their goals.
But I’m not here to defend meetings — in fact, I want to talk about how to avoid them.
Because even us meeting-obsessed managers need time to think, strategize, and do deep work.
That’s what Wednesdays are for.
Wednesdays are for deep work
On Wednesdays I set up a maker’s schedule instead of a manager’s schedule. In my role “making” is all about idea and strategy creation: Reaching flow. Focusing deeply. Thinking hard. Completing tasks. Reading books.
My goal is to stay in a flow state as long as possible and accomplish what I can’t during my normal work week.
When my focus tires, I take a break and go on a walk, read an inspiring book, or get out my notebook and tackle a problem.
Then I go back to making things happen.
Sure, that sounds great… but how can I make this happen IRL?
1. Just stop it.
No seriously, just stop taking meetings on Wednesday!
It’s literally impossible to book a meeting with me on Wednesday. Everyone is dead to me on Wednesdays. I have my calendar set to “busy” all day and I verbally say no to any meeting.
Because of this, Wednesdays have become an oasis. I look forward to it on Tuesday, and it lets me focus on Thursday. And because I’ve stuck to it, everyone knows not to book meetings with me on Wednesday.
2. Inspire and persuade others to join you.
What if you don’t have the power to say no to all your Wednesday meetings?
Then change things — you have power through persuasion. Convince others. Request group meetings be changed to another day. I’ve found that most things can be changed through inspiration and persuasion.
As more people refuse meetings on Wednesday, the more it will happen across the organization. Make it an unofficial policy and eventually it’ll become an official one.
3. Pick one day to rule them all.
If everyone picked a different day for “no meeting day,” it would be chaos.
Scheduling would be a nightmare. Stick to one day and everyone can plan on it. Wednesdays are ideal: in the middle of the week everyone wants a breather to focus on knocking out tasks.
Want to hop on the no-Wednesday-meetings train?
Open your calendar and block out all those Wednesdays until the end of time. You’ll love having a day each week to strategize, think, and power through tasks.
Once you start, you’ll never want to experience a normal Wednesday again.
