A Day Without Meetings: How I Started From Scratch to Create the Perfect Workday
In 2015, while we were writing Sprint, for the first time in my professional life, I had days without meetings.
We knew it would require intense focus and a lot of time to write the book, so each of us dedicated our days to writing. Not every day or even every week. But for two or three or four days at a time, two or three weeks out of every month, for about four months, we wrote Sprint.
I spent most of those writing days at home, which meant no commuting and no meetings. I had complete control over my schedule. From the moment I woke up, until bedtime, I decided how to spend my time.
What did I do?
At first, nothing special. I would get up, make coffee, start writing, realize I was hungry, find breakfast, write more, get distracted, and so on. I had plenty of “crap it’s lunch already” days. They weren’t planned and they weren’t intentional.
But I recognized the opportunity: to start with an empty calendar and build up, hour by hour, my perfect schedule for deep work.
I thought about the elements of my perfect workday. I’d start early to take advantage of those “free” morning hours. I’d plan my meals better. I’d set up not-too-long working blocks with scheduled breaks — these would…
