1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,280 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: Today's tip is that if you normally default to our 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: long meetings, try experimenting with forty minute ones instead. You 5 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: might be surprised at how much better your schedule feels. 6 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: Over years of studying people's schedules, I found that people 7 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: generally default to a certain length of meeting. For most people, 8 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: that's an hour. There's some people in organizations default to 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: thirty minutes. But it's all kind of strange if you 10 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,880 Speaker 1: think about it. I mean, not all business or human 11 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: matters fit neatly into a sixty minutes segment of time. 12 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: Some stuff takes five minutes, some stuff takes all day. 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: But rather than ask how much time a given interaction 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: will require, whoever is doing the scheduling defaults to the default. 15 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: You ask for time on a person's calendar, and you 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: get sixty minutes. If everyone gets sixty minutes, though, you 17 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: wind up stacking these meetings on the hour, usually all 18 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:15,479 Speaker 1: day long, and there's little time to do anything else 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: unless you're disciplined about leaving an hour or two open. Now, 20 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: to my mind, the best approach is to ask while 21 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: scheduling exactly what needs to be covered and how long 22 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: that will take. Then the meeting can be scheduled for 23 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: that length of time, whether it's five minutes, twenty minutes, 24 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: or ninety seven minutes. I also know that's probably not 25 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: going to happen, so instead, another idea is to set 26 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,440 Speaker 1: your default at forty minutes. And here's why this might 27 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:49,040 Speaker 1: be wise. There's very little that would normally be slotted 28 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: for sixty minutes that couldn't be done in forty There's 29 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: a lot of throat clearing and such in your average meeting. 30 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: A shorter time frame forces discipline, but even better, if 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,960 Speaker 1: you schedule these meetings on the hour, you have twenty 32 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: minutes in between each one. If it runs a little over, 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,000 Speaker 1: you're still on time. If it gets out when it's 34 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: supposed to, you have twenty minutes to work on other things, 35 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: which is enough time to actually do something as opposed 36 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: to the five to ten minutes people often get between meetings. 37 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: It also allows for more open space if you're strategic. 38 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 1: For instance, if you start one meeting on the hour 39 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: and then start another at twenty minutes after the hour, 40 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: you can get a forty minute break in between meetings. 41 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: That's enough for lunch or to really get caught up, 42 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: or if you really need to stack in the meetings 43 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: on a particular day, you can do three in the 44 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: time you normally would have done two in your old 45 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: sixty minute default mode. When a schedule appears to have 46 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: no more space for fitting stuff in, that is one 47 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,080 Speaker 1: way to make it work. Now. I know that electronic 48 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,960 Speaker 1: calendars conspire against this, which is one reason I'm not 49 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: a fan of electronic calendars, though I know that's a 50 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: losing battle and a subject for a different time. But 51 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: if you are running a team or an organization, you 52 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,800 Speaker 1: can set whatever times you want. Shortening the default meeting 53 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: time and making it slightly more unorthodox will put a 54 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: lot more discipline in your schedule. Do you have a 55 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: default meeting length, If it's something other than thirty or 56 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: sixty minutes, let me know. You can email me at 57 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at I heart media dot com. In 58 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's 59 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd 60 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips, 61 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, 62 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, 63 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me 64 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media 65 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all 66 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:03,720 Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying 67 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. 68 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 70 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.