WEBVTT - Try 40-minute meetings

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is that if you normally default to our

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<v Speaker 1>long meetings, try experimenting with forty minute ones instead. You

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<v Speaker 1>might be surprised at how much better your schedule feels.

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<v Speaker 1>Over years of studying people's schedules, I found that people

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<v Speaker 1>generally default to a certain length of meeting. For most people,

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<v Speaker 1>that's an hour. There's some people in organizations default to

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<v Speaker 1>thirty minutes. But it's all kind of strange if you

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<v Speaker 1>think about it. I mean, not all business or human

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<v Speaker 1>matters fit neatly into a sixty minutes segment of time.

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<v Speaker 1>Some stuff takes five minutes, some stuff takes all day.

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<v Speaker 1>But rather than ask how much time a given interaction

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<v Speaker 1>will require, whoever is doing the scheduling defaults to the default.

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<v Speaker 1>You ask for time on a person's calendar, and you

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<v Speaker 1>get sixty minutes. If everyone gets sixty minutes, though, you

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<v Speaker 1>wind up stacking these meetings on the hour, usually all

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<v Speaker 1>day long, and there's little time to do anything else

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<v Speaker 1>unless you're disciplined about leaving an hour or two open. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>to my mind, the best approach is to ask while

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<v Speaker 1>scheduling exactly what needs to be covered and how long

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<v Speaker 1>that will take. Then the meeting can be scheduled for

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<v Speaker 1>that length of time, whether it's five minutes, twenty minutes,

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<v Speaker 1>or ninety seven minutes. I also know that's probably not

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<v Speaker 1>going to happen, so instead, another idea is to set

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<v Speaker 1>your default at forty minutes. And here's why this might

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<v Speaker 1>be wise. There's very little that would normally be slotted

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<v Speaker 1>for sixty minutes that couldn't be done in forty There's

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of throat clearing and such in your average meeting.

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<v Speaker 1>A shorter time frame forces discipline, but even better, if

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<v Speaker 1>you schedule these meetings on the hour, you have twenty

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<v Speaker 1>minutes in between each one. If it runs a little over,

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<v Speaker 1>you're still on time. If it gets out when it's

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<v Speaker 1>supposed to, you have twenty minutes to work on other things,

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<v Speaker 1>which is enough time to actually do something as opposed

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<v Speaker 1>to the five to ten minutes people often get between meetings.

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<v Speaker 1>It also allows for more open space if you're strategic.

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<v Speaker 1>For instance, if you start one meeting on the hour

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<v Speaker 1>and then start another at twenty minutes after the hour,

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<v Speaker 1>you can get a forty minute break in between meetings.

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<v Speaker 1>That's enough for lunch or to really get caught up,

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<v Speaker 1>or if you really need to stack in the meetings

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<v Speaker 1>on a particular day, you can do three in the

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<v Speaker 1>time you normally would have done two in your old

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<v Speaker 1>sixty minute default mode. When a schedule appears to have

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<v Speaker 1>no more space for fitting stuff in, that is one

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<v Speaker 1>way to make it work. Now. I know that electronic

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<v Speaker 1>calendars conspire against this, which is one reason I'm not

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<v Speaker 1>a fan of electronic calendars, though I know that's a

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<v Speaker 1>losing battle and a subject for a different time. But

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<v Speaker 1>if you are running a team or an organization, you

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<v Speaker 1>can set whatever times you want. Shortening the default meeting

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<v Speaker 1>time and making it slightly more unorthodox will put a

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<v Speaker 1>lot more discipline in your schedule. Do you have a

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<v Speaker 1>default meeting length, If it's something other than thirty or

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<v Speaker 1>sixty minutes, let me know. You can email me at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast podcast at I heart media dot com. In

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<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

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<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

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<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,

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<v Speaker 1>then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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<v Speaker 1>an email at Before Breakfast podcast. At i heeart media

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<v Speaker 1>dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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<v Speaker 1>the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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<v Speaker 1>in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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