Save your daily sanity and insure your important objectives don’t get pushed aside by scheduling Mini Me-Meetings during your day. Here’s how and why they work wonders.
(Average reading time 180 seconds)
Tom had flooded me with frustration over what he saw as the unattainable demands his job put on his time. “I just go from meeting to meeting and at each one I get more To Do’s. Before I can even organize to get some things checked off, or delegated, I’m in another meeting adding to the list. So the list just keeps growing.”
Tom had made it clear that he rarely was able to get done what he had scheduled for the day as new “stuff” and meetings pushed it aside.
Cheryl on the other hand, working in the same environment, with similar demands, felt in control. She usually had the time to make progress on her intended plans each day. She also was able to re-prioritize and execute on the new tasks that needed her attention and schedule or delegate others.
These two real people are representative of millions of others who tend to fall into these can do or can’t do categories. Why do these people working in similar atmospheres get such dissimilar results?
A key part of that answer lies in what Cheryl did every day, that Tom did not. She committed time on her schedule for meetings with herself… what we have come to call Me-Meetings.
A me-meeting should not be confused with unscheduled time. They are very different.
Clients tell me they leave unscheduled time in their day in the hopes of catching up on projects or planning, but they often don’t get those results. Instead someone else schedules the time for them, or when they are asked to do something during that time, they accept.
This happens because we view “unscheduled time” as time that is just waiting to be filled up. And that’s okay. You should leave part of your day unscheduled to be potentially filled by the immediate needs that come up during that day.
Me-Meetings serve a different purpose. A Me Meeting, as it implies, is a commitment of time to meet with yourself for a specific purpose.
Think of a Me-Meeting in the same way you would a team or client meeting or phone appointment. When you have a meeting scheduled from 2 to 2:30 you don’t let yourself get scheduled to meet with someone else at the same time.
It’s important to record your me-meetings in your calendar and on your shared calendar so others don’t schedule that time for you. If someone asks you to do something during that time, just tell them, “I have an appointment, but it will be over at 2:30. Can we meet then?”
Planned Me-Meetings take two forms. The Mini Me-Meeting helps you keep control of your day. Longer Me-Meetings provide you with the time to make progress on important previous commitments you have made to co-workers and clients.
Mini Me-Meetings
Mini Me-Meetings are usually 10 to 20 minute time blocks for planning, reprioritizing and updating your day. One in the morning and one in the early afternoon will do wonders for your stress level and productivity. Use this alone time to do what Tom wasn’t doing. Update the additional to do’s from the day, reprioritize as necessary and schedule or delegate those new tasks. Your morning Mini Me-Meeting should also be used to look over yesterday’s calendar to make sure nothing fell through the cracks.
Longer Me-Meetings
You have to have time to get the work done that comes from your group meetings and your major project priorities. Scheduling longer Me-Meetings, 1 to 2 hours, creates the time each day for those priority activities.
Think of the value you’ll derive from devoting 1 to 2 hours a day to focusing on nothing else but your most important pending activities.
Might you have interruptions during your me-meeting time? Depending on the expectations of your job, absolutely. But you can minimize their impact and still reap the benefits of me meetings by following the tips below.
Tips to Maximize the Value of Me Meetings
The tips that follow will apply to you in different ways depending on your job expectations. In evaluating how you can apply them, don’t self-impose reasons they won’t work. Once you communicate your purpose to others, they may help you overcome the challenges to carving out regular me-meeting time.
Do not look at emails – Don’t use checking your emails as an excuse to escape from doing the important priorities you have planned for this me-meeting. Often our brain resists doing the hard work of tackling a new project or focusing on the most important, so we distract ourselves with something easy. “Oh, let me just check my email…” and off you go. Unless your job demands you respond to emails during regular meetings, you should not do so during me-meetings either.
Have a clean desk – Just like emails are a distraction to switch from your priorities, so to is the temptation to look through those stacks of stuff on your desk. Keep your work surface clear and during your me-meetings only bring out what is relevant to your planned purpose.
Change locations – If possible go to a conference room or other quiet area where you can’t be readily found.
To take more control of your time and life try the me-meeting experiment.
Open up your calendar now. Schedule a morning and afternoon mini me-meeting for the next several days to reprioritize and update your day. Then schedule a couple of longer me-meetings to work on specific objectives. When they come up on your calendar, stick to them. As it turned out for Tom and thousands of others, I expect you will reduce your stress, increase your attention to priorities and drive up your productivity.
Enjoy the experiment.
Smiles,
Jim Bird
Publisher
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Quotes
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”
“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”
“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success.”
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company and creator of modern assembly lines.
Only check and respond to email three or four times a day with focused time (morning – before and after lunch – afternoon.) During those times touch each email once – if you open it, answer it and record required actions in your calendar. This prevents you from being drawn off priority tasks every time an email comes in.