WEBVTT - Try a double header

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:15.520
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:21.159
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to try a double header. If you

0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.079
<v Speaker 1>are meeting with the same person or people twice in

0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:30.960
<v Speaker 1>short succession, consolidate both agendas into one meeting, make it

0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.360
<v Speaker 1>a double header, and free up some uninterrupted time for

0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:40.720
<v Speaker 1>something else. In many organizations, it can be quite common

0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:42.920
<v Speaker 1>to meet with the same people twice in a week

0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.680
<v Speaker 1>or so. Maybe you are collaborating with the same people

0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.199
<v Speaker 1>on multiple projects, or maybe you are working on a

0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.320
<v Speaker 1>client project together, but you are also jointly running a

0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:56.880
<v Speaker 1>brown bag lunch series for the department. You know how

0:00:56.920 --> 0:01:00.720
<v Speaker 1>this goes. What tends to happen is that we view

0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:05.080
<v Speaker 1>all our projects as completely separate, and when we need

0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.440
<v Speaker 1>to meet with people for each project, the meetings get

0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:12.840
<v Speaker 1>scheduled separately. This certainly happens when we are scheduling our

0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:16.119
<v Speaker 1>own meetings, but it happens with assistance too, because they

0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.920
<v Speaker 1>are probably thinking of projects separately as well. Have I

0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:23.839
<v Speaker 1>set up meetings for project A and Project B this week? Great?

0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.160
<v Speaker 1>I am doing what I am supposed to do, So

0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.880
<v Speaker 1>what winds up happening is that you and Bob and

0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.640
<v Speaker 1>Kia may be working together on project A and Project B,

0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.480
<v Speaker 1>and you may have a meeting about each project in

0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.760
<v Speaker 1>a given week. Maybe you and Kara are also working

0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.600
<v Speaker 1>together on projects C, so you have a third meeting

0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.440
<v Speaker 1>with her. You are spending a lot of time with Kara.

0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:50.000
<v Speaker 1>That is not a bad thing. But as I point

0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.360
<v Speaker 1>out in my forthcoming book, Tranquility by Tuesday, if you

0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.320
<v Speaker 1>plan your life in weeks, you will see this more clearly.

0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.280
<v Speaker 1>As you survey your landscape for the upcoming you will

0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:04.360
<v Speaker 1>see that you have multiple meetings with the same people.

0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:08.400
<v Speaker 1>Recognizing that you have more than one meeting with the

0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:13.040
<v Speaker 1>same people creates an opportunity to consolidate is get to gathers.

0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:18.359
<v Speaker 1>You can do a double header most of the time.

0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.080
<v Speaker 1>If you consolidate meetings, you won't need the full amount

0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.040
<v Speaker 1>of time you scheduled for the two individual meetings. Say

0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.040
<v Speaker 1>you have two hour long meetings with Bob and Kara,

0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.400
<v Speaker 1>one about project DAY and one about Project B. You

0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.320
<v Speaker 1>will probably be able to conduct the business of both

0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:39.040
<v Speaker 1>those meetings in an hour and a half. At most,

0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.200
<v Speaker 1>it will be an hour and forty five minutes. It's

0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:49.120
<v Speaker 1>pretty easy to see why every single meeting exacts transaction costs.

0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.960
<v Speaker 1>There is often times spent waiting for latecomers. There is

0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.960
<v Speaker 1>the time spent getting organized and chit chatting in a

0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:03.239
<v Speaker 1>consolidated meeting. All if this happens once, not twice or more,

0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:06.680
<v Speaker 1>you may need less time for wrap up at the

0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.280
<v Speaker 1>end of the meeting too, since you aren't actually parting

0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.200
<v Speaker 1>at the end of the first junk of material, you

0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:16.880
<v Speaker 1>are plowing right into the second matter. What's more, meetings

0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.919
<v Speaker 1>tend to expand or contract to fill the available time,

0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.079
<v Speaker 1>so if you have an hour and a half budgeted

0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.440
<v Speaker 1>for this double header, you will probably make it work.

0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.800
<v Speaker 1>So by consolidating the two meetings, you end up saving

0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:35.480
<v Speaker 1>fifteen to thirty minutes. Even better, you save yourself the

0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.800
<v Speaker 1>individual transaction costs of stopping other work and then restarting

0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:44.400
<v Speaker 1>it afterwards. Your schedule will be less chopped up, so

0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.680
<v Speaker 1>you will have more time available for what productivity expert

0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:52.920
<v Speaker 1>cal Newport calls deep work. Now, as you study your schedule,

0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.240
<v Speaker 1>you may find that some of the meetings you can

0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:59.440
<v Speaker 1>consolidate are recurring meetings. That means that the few minutes

0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.680
<v Speaker 1>it takes. Adjust your schedules and find a consolidated meeting time.

0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.480
<v Speaker 1>Once we'll pay off in less total time and meetings

0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:12.480
<v Speaker 1>every single week. That is a definite win. So if

0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.760
<v Speaker 1>we envision our scenario with Bob and Kara, you could

0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.000
<v Speaker 1>picture that the three of you do a double header

0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:21.880
<v Speaker 1>on project Day and Project b Then you say goodbye

0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:24.800
<v Speaker 1>to Bob and you and Kara stick around to chat

0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:31.040
<v Speaker 1>about projects c even more efficiencies are achieved. One easy

0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.320
<v Speaker 1>entry point to this scheduling concept is to do a

0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.800
<v Speaker 1>double header after any all staff for all department meetings

0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.520
<v Speaker 1>that you may be required to attend. If you need

0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.480
<v Speaker 1>to do a weekly meeting with Mary, and you and

0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.800
<v Speaker 1>Mary are both at the department meeting, you can stack

0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:51.880
<v Speaker 1>the meeting with Mary right after it ends. That way,

0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:55.520
<v Speaker 1>if the meeting ends early, you and Mary can start

0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.880
<v Speaker 1>early rather than kicking around for ten minutes looking for

0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:02.960
<v Speaker 1>something else small to do. Or if the meeting runs late,

0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:08.880
<v Speaker 1>neither of you will be inconvenienced waiting for the other. Now,

0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:13.719
<v Speaker 1>to be clear, double headers are about rescheduling existing meetings.

0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.799
<v Speaker 1>I am not suggesting setting up new meetings. In general,

0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.720
<v Speaker 1>most people need to be in far fewer meetings than

0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:25.719
<v Speaker 1>they are currently in. I suggest taking a good look

0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.600
<v Speaker 1>at whether all your recurring meetings actually need to happen,

0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.880
<v Speaker 1>But if they do, a double header can save some time.

0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:38.839
<v Speaker 1>It may require a little work to figure out the logistics,

0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:43.480
<v Speaker 1>but you know this isn't rocket science. If a different

0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:46.880
<v Speaker 1>person is leading project A than is leading Project B,

0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.599
<v Speaker 1>just switch who is leading the meeting in the middle.

0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.880
<v Speaker 1>Agree to the agenda in advance so everything is adequately covered.

0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.240
<v Speaker 1>But hopefully you are doing that already with your meetings.

0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:07.120
<v Speaker 1>If necessary, you could switch which project comes first week

0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.400
<v Speaker 1>to week in case there is any concern about people

0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:14.719
<v Speaker 1>feeling fresh or trying to rush through things. But given

0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.800
<v Speaker 1>the benefits, I think it is worth a little trial

0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.200
<v Speaker 1>and error to make it work. If you try a

0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.200
<v Speaker 1>double header meeting, I would love to hear how it goes.

0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:33.159
<v Speaker 1>You can reach me at Laura at Laura Vanderkam dot com.

0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:38.880
<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and

0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:48.880
<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.159
<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.839
<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:59.279
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at before Breakfast pod.

0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.280
<v Speaker 1>That's be the number four then Breakfast p O d.

0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:08.000
<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast

0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:11.440
<v Speaker 1>podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:14.240
<v Speaker 1>is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:22.480
<v Speaker 1>I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.720
<v Speaker 1>a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.720
<v Speaker 1>I heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:31.880
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.