Add Some Breathing Space to Your Meeting Schedule With the Margin Method
Meeting in a row can tire your days and take away the time to do something else. You can give yourself much-needed wiggle room with the meeting margin method.
If you don’t take a break between meetings, you don’t have time to reflect on what your meetings are accomplishing or to get things moving. On the Study Hacks Blog, Cal Newport recommends a simple strategy to keep meetings from eating up your entire schedule so you can stay productive:
Let’s say you need to make an appointment for X minutes. Instead of blocking X minutes on your calendar, set aside (1.5) * X minutes. For example, if you agree to attend a 30-minute meeting that starts at 2:00 pm, try highlighting 2:00 am – 2:45 am on your calendar. Likewise, if it was a 60 minute meeting, try blocking from 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM. Etc.
The key is to keep the scheduled meeting time and leave those extra minutes for yourself to use as needed. You do not increase the duration of the meeting, but only the time that you have blocked for it. This gives you time to process what was discussed, learn about things like emails and phone calls that you may have missed during the meeting, and begin the real work of translating your meeting ideas into action. This extra time also allows you to take a break if you need to relieve stress, grab another cup of coffee, or grab a snack.
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