Speaker 1: Good morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to try a desk day. In an
Speaker 1: earlier episode, we talked about being more thoughtful with meetings.
Speaker 1: A related question is when we should schedule meetings, and
Speaker 1: just as important, when we shouldn't schedule meetings. Meetings and
Speaker 1: appointments are obviously necessary, but when things land on our
Speaker 1: calendars for specific times and involve other people, they don't
Speaker 1: just consume the time allotted to them. We plan our
Speaker 1: whole days around them. We stop what we're doing before
Speaker 1: meeting start, and when they're done, we cycle back through
Speaker 1: our transition rituals, checking email, checking headlines, and so forth.
Speaker 1: The result is that time feels chopped up. We hesitate
Speaker 1: to start bigger projects or anything that requires an uncertain
Speaker 1: amount of time. So how can we solve this problem?
Speaker 1: I love to suggestion and sent in by a Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast listener named Diane. She writes that, having spent the
Speaker 1: last ten years as a freelance graphic designer, I'm pretty
Speaker 1: obsessed with tracking my work time and constantly improving efficiency.
Speaker 1: Last year I started employing a new trick that has
Speaker 1: really helped me manage my weeks the trick is this
Speaker 1: no meetings or appointments for work or personal reasons on Monday's.
Speaker 1: Diane writes, the hours of eight to five are blocked off,
Speaker 1: sacred reserved for desk work. The reason she started doing
Speaker 1: what she calls desk Mondays is that in her business,
Speaker 1: she notes, many of my clients work weekends, and this
Speaker 1: is often when they email requests to me. Other clients
Speaker 1: returned to work on Monday and bust through a to
Speaker 1: do list that involves offloading certain projects. To me, Mondays
Speaker 1: were always hectic and unpredictable, and accommodating anything away from
Speaker 1: my desk created a day of rushing and stress. So
Speaker 1: I just decided that desk Mondays would be a thing,
Speaker 1: and it has given me enough time to deal with
Speaker 1: the things I planned, the things I didn't, and to
Speaker 1: prep a bit for the rest of the week. A
Speaker 1: day with no scheduled appointments gives Diane freedom and flexibility.
Speaker 1: Now I understand that Mondays might not work for everyone.
Speaker 1: While it's nice to start the week with the ability
Speaker 1: to execute on big projects, maybe you'd have better luck
Speaker 1: keeping Fridays free for desk Fridays. In many organizations, Friday
Speaker 1: is already a little lighter on the meetings. This open
Speaker 1: space allows you to catch up on anything that didn't
Speaker 1: happen earlier in the week. That way, you don't have
Speaker 1: to borrow time from the next week or work on
Speaker 1: the weekend. I've also seen some more intriguing versions of this.
Speaker 1: A few organizations I've studied have work from home Wednesday.
Speaker 1: I love this as a policy. People get a midweek
Speaker 1: break from commuting, and managers can be assured that people
Speaker 1: aren't using telecommuting as a back doorway of leaving early
Speaker 1: for the weekend. Anyway, as part of work from home Wednesday,
Speaker 1: people agree not to schedule meetings for that day. Everyone
Speaker 1: can hunker down and do focused work. They come back
Speaker 1: Thursday and Friday ready to collaborate. If you're listening to
Speaker 1: this and thinking, but Laura, I have no control over
Speaker 1: when meetings get scheduled, or I have too many meetings
Speaker 1: to leave a day free, don't worry. Even if you
Speaker 1: can't get a whole desk day like Diane, you might
Speaker 1: do your best to block off half a day or
Speaker 1: even a few hours. Study your schedule to see where
Speaker 1: this might work. It doesn't always need to be the
Speaker 1: same time every week. Maybe every other week would work,
Speaker 1: or maybe you can be creative. If I've flown somewhere
Speaker 1: for work at night and my first appointment is at
Speaker 1: noon the next day, I'll block that time in the
Speaker 1: morning and do focused work in my hotel room. I'll
Speaker 1: be on the road. Then seems to be a magical
Speaker 1: line for making a block of time off limits. You
Speaker 1: might also realize that you have more control than you think. Okay,
Speaker 1: people manage to not schedule meetings or appointments while they're
Speaker 1: on airplanes and the world keeps spinning. When I've had
Speaker 1: people study their schedules, many report back that a fair
Speaker 1: number of requests come in the form of could I
Speaker 1: get some time Monday or Tuesday? If Monday is your
Speaker 1: desk day. Don't offer this time up without a really
Speaker 1: good reason. If you have to, you have to, but
Speaker 1: make sure this is a conscious choice. If you do this,
Speaker 1: you'll have time to collaborate and time to focus. Just
Speaker 1: like Diane, You'll be feeling less busy while getting more done.
Speaker 1: So look at your calendar and see when a desk
Speaker 1: day could happen for you. If you're managing people, see
Speaker 1: if you can all agree on a desk day, you
Speaker 1: might be pleased with the results. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart
Speaker 1: media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with
Speaker 1: all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to
Speaker 1: staying in touch.