According to a report from calendar startup Reclaim.ai, professionals were in meetings for 21.5 hours per week last month, over seven hours more a week than in February 2020. When you find yourself in one meeting after another, your work production and satisfaction can be negatively impacted.
You don’t have to allow other people’s agenda to take full control of your work days. You can still maintain your autonomy. Here are five suggestions to help you feel more in control of your time at work:
1. Block out deep thinking time.
Depending on the nature of your work, you could block out a couple of hours in a day or an entire day on your schedule. Give yourself uninterrupted time to focus and think critically about the task at hand.
There may be times in which a meeting can only be scheduled during your weekly thinking time block. When you work on a team, it is critical that you compromise and be flexible. But don’t be a doormat either. If you are not carving out some time in your schedule to ensure your productivity and effectiveness, you are not helping yourself or the team.
2. Ask yourself, “Do I need to attend that meeting?”
Not every meeting is critical for you to attend, so ask yourself if you need to participate. Don’t say to the meeting organizer, “I don’t need to attend this meeting.” Rather, inquire about the meeting’s goal and agenda to evaluate if your participation would be beneficial to you and/or your colleagues. If you conclude that your attendance would not add value to the parties involved, share with the meeting organizer what you think would be a good use of the time, whether it is a more targeted meeting between the two of you or a written memo, for example.
3. Suggest that multiple meetings be combined.
If you see on your calendar that there are a few meetings that seem to have overlapping topics and attendees, consider reaching out to the meeting organizers and let them know of these multiple, similar meetings. Bringing this to their attention could prompt the organizers to combine the meetings into one meeting and decrease the overall amount of time spent in meetings.
4. Take the initiative, and propose a meeting.
Meetings are not bad. It is when you have numerous, unfocused meetings that give meetings a bad name.
You can have meaningful meetings and still feel in control of your schedule. A great way to do this is to take the lead and schedule your own meeting. Think about the purpose of the meeting, who should attend, the amount of discussion time needed and the outcomes you expect to generate. When you are intentional and thoughtful about a task, you are unlikely to waste anyone’s time.
5. Walk and talk.
If you have to have the meeting, doing something different (other than sitting in front of each other in a room) can be enough to make work still interesting. For topics that do not require whiteboarding or intense note taking, propose to the other person or persons that you take the meeting outside. If the parties are working remotely, you can still walk and talk together. Plug your earphones into your phone, and start strolling.
If walking or being outside is difficult, do what you can to change your environment. Sit at a table outside, or put yourself next to a window. Getting away from your usual surroundings can keep work enjoyable on long days.
Your schedule can easily and quickly get filled, making it difficult to be productive and enjoy work. Block out time on your calendar, decide whether the meeting is critical for you to attend, use your vantage point to propose a consolidated meeting or lead a meeting and leverage different forms of convening to keep work interesting.
What helps you to better control your work schedule? Share with me your stories and thoughts via Twitter or LinkedIn.
Article From & Read More ( 5 Tips To Carve Out More Time For Yourself At Work - Forbes )https://ift.tt/3pe3NLB
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar