“I’ve already got plans.”
Hey! We're back for the second edition of the new weekly Time Dorks newsletter curated by Connor. If you missed the first one last week, you can read it here.
🏃♂️Something to Try
If you’ve got an empty calendar today, feel free to skip this section.
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Everybody still here? I thought so — because I sure don’t.
Most of us live and work at the mercy of our calendars, with meetings, check-ins and projects filling up our day. And if you work in an environment where meetings can pop onto your calendar out of thin air, you can start to feel like you don’t have enough time.
Our solution? Use daily “do not schedule” blocks to make room for your Highlight (Tactic #9).
This tactic was inspired by Graham Jenkin, JZ’s former boss at Google, who scheduled time with himself every morning from 6AM to 11AM — time he used to wake up, commute, eat, exercise, and complete focused work before a day full of meetings.
If anyone tried to schedule during his block, he’d simply tell them: “I’ve already got plans.”
When you start to Block Your Calendar (#9), make sure it’s intentional time — not just to get out of a meeting or avoid coworkers. This block is just as vital as your most important meeting.
Don’t fill every gap between meetings as a “do not schedule” block. You can leave unblocked space for opportunities to connect with coworkers or wrap up tasks — time both you and your team will appreciate having.
🤖 Tech & Tools
Email is often my “distraction Kryptonite” — the thing that irresistibly pulls me away from spending my time on activities I care about. If there’s a way I can spend less time checking my email, even if it’s just a few seconds, I’m going to take it.
Luckily, I’ve found something: a bookmark to instantly compose an email inside of Gmail. You can set it up to fill in any desired contacts, cc or bcc recipients, subject lines or canned text.
With one click, I can send a proactive email to make progress on something important, and then get back to work without falling into the Infinity Pool of my inbox.
Here’s how to set up browser shortcuts to compose an email in Gmail.
📚 Timely Quotes
Thanks for reading, see you next week!
Connor
Time Dorks
The newsletter about making time for what matters.
Brought to you twice a month by the Make Time team.
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