Meeting fatigue is a real thing!
A global study by Microsoft recently showed that meetings increased by nearly 148% during the pandemic and the average work day went up by nearly an hour! More meetings mean less time to be productive during “working hours”. With the everyday commute being eliminated, this creates grounds for blurring the lines of work-life balance and creating work-life conflict.
Meetings increased by nearly 148% during the pandemic!
If you’re looking to get your balance back and regain time to actually be productive, start with these simple strategies:
Time Block!
Schedule meetings with yourself and hold these times routinely and at least 1 week out. I’ve written more about this in a previous blog here.
Communicate your boundaries!
Let your team and your manager know that you are building space to be more productive. When speaking to your manager, offer the recommendation and insure they are on board with your plan. If they are not, then it is probably time to start evaluating your role, your goals, and how to best elevate a larger conversation on obtaining your balance…or your exit plan.
Stop counting the hours and start looking at objectives!
If you are fortunate to have a workplace culture that endorses flexibility, take advantage of redesigning your work day. This is especially true for working parents that may have kids at home during part or all of their work day. Make sure you are still meeting your goals and being a solid employee. Get creative and identify the times that you are at your energy peak and not being distracted, that is the time that you should schedule for your deep work.
Eliminate!
Remove yourself from meetings that don’t apply to your goals or your voice. If you’re missing a meeting that you still need information on to improve your job, make sure someone is recapping and sending any actions/next steps that you missed out on. This type of meeting audit should be done daily and make sure that the time you are giving to your video is meaningful for you and your employer. I guarantee that you can find at least an hour or two in the week to get back for your flow work.
Say No!
This doesn’t have to be as confrontational as it sounds, however, the goal is for others to respect your limits. Keep it simple…when an unsolicited meeting invite comes your way. Evaluate the worth and alignment. If it doesn’t fit, decline the request with a polite, “I have a conflict”. Request another time or a recommended resolution of the declined conversation to happen via email or via chat. Be careful, chats can be just as distracting and time-consuming.
These tips may take some time to apply, so don’t panic. Redesigning your rhythms and patterns to a more stable work-life integration can be done with some intentionality, patience, and habit stacking…one at a time.
