Meeting Overload?

I'm really going to recapture my time in 2022; fewer meetings!" Sounds good but we're 2 weeks in, and your calendar is still as ugly as ever. I've often found myself not getting started on anything until 3 pm-4 pm after all my calls are done, facing hours more of work. How do I change this? Here are a few things I've implemented to help my calendar workload breathe a bit.

• Outlook has a feature so that a 30-minute meeting will be 25 minutes; allowing you 5 minutes at the end of the meeting to not be back-to-back.?Also, try 15-minute meetings.?
• Include 3 bullet points in your zoom/meeting request.?

1. Agenda (what are we talking about on this call); this kills me getting invited to things with a generic meeting title invite; I've started declining them and asking for details.
2. Roll call (who is talking about what)
3. Action Items (what is the output of this meeting; who's going to do what next).

• Weekly meetings; if there's nothing that you need to actively discuss this week - CANCEL it. It's nice to 'check-in' but you have email, slack, text, phone (gasp!), and a meeting next week.?If you find you're cancelling meetings a lot - maybe change them to 2x a month.??
• Be prepared; there's nothing worse than going to a meeting and someone saying "I haven't looked at this yet..."?Or hearing that.
• Start them on time. If someone's late, too bad. Unless it's your CEO.?Then, just see #4.

I'll keep you posted on how well I do in 30 days.