Sorry, I’m running a few minutes late.

Ever have one of those days where your first meeting runs over a couple minutes, and all of the sudden you’re late for everything? Do you have a lot of those days?

Maybe it’s poor planning on your part… or maybe it’s the Time Goblin.

Either way, it’s a problem you gotta solve.

The 25/50 Rule: Just do it.

Good news! You can easily optimize the timing of meetings to save time for actual work and preserve your own sanity.

That’s where the 25/50 rule comes in.

By scheduling all 30-minute meetings to end at 5 minutes before the next half-hour mark and all 60-minute meetings to end 10 minutes before the next hour, everyone has a shot at a buffer to reset, recharge, and attend to personal matters.

Of course, this means the meeting also has to actually end on time. But I can’t solve all your problems…

Whether it’s grabbing a cup of coffee, petting their dog, or spending time with family, we all need a break from being on camera to restore our cognitive reserves.

Note: If your organization uses Microsoft 365, the “25/50 Rule” can be implemented through a simple setting. This can be done per-user or through a registry change (which admins can deploy through a group policy).