4. Know your highest and best value and set your priorities accordingly. Which meetings are high-priority because of the people or the content? Which are low-priority? Review your calendars from the past few weeks—which meetings could you have skipped?
5. Build your “no” muscle. If you are invited to a meeting of marginal value that will get in the way of a priority, push back. Psychologist Liane Davey suggests a number of great strategies for declining unwanted meetings in this great HBR article. Here are some potential responses:
- “I see you included me in X meeting. I have a conflict and won’t be able to attend. If I’m essential to the meeting, let’s look at next week.”
- “What’s on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting?”
- “What would you think of switching our weekly status calls to bi-weekly or written updates?”
If you begin asserting control of your calendar, it can become a powerful tool for getting work done.
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