How to stop drowning in meetings and emails
You're in back-to-back meetings all day. Between meetings, you're trying to clear the 47 unread emails that came in while you were in the last meeting.
By the time you’ve done that, it’s onto the next meeting.
Then you get to the end of the day and realise you haven’t actually done any of your own work. The thing you were supposed to finish today hasn’t been touched. Again.
This isn’t a time management problem. It’s a priorities problem disguised as a time management problem.
Cancel what doesn’t matter
Look at your calendar for next week. Go on, actually look at it.
How many of those meetings are you in because someone once added you to a recurring invite and you never questioned it? How many are “just in case you need to be there?”
Cancel them.
Not “I’ll see if I can make it.” Actually cancel. Send a message: “I don’t think I need to be in this meeting anymore. Let me know if there’s anything specific you need from me and I’ll get it to you another way.”
Most people won’t even notice you’ve stopped coming. The ones who do will tell you what they actually need, and it’s usually a five-minute conversation, not a one-hour meeting.
Move updates to email
If the meeting is just people taking turns reporting what they’ve been doing, you don’t need a meeting. You need an email thread or a shared document.
“Can everyone send a quick update by Tuesday morning instead of meeting? I’ll compile it and send it round.”
Cuts a one-hour meeting down to ten minutes of reading. Everyone gets the same information. Nobody has to sit through the bit that’s not relevant to them.
Block out thinking time
If your calendar is completely full, you can’t think. You can’t plan. You can’t do the work that actually requires some focus.
Block out one hour, twice a week. Mark it as busy. Treat it like a meeting with yourself that you really can’t cancel.
When someone asks to book over it, you say “I’ve got something then, how about Thursday at 2pm instead?”
You don’t owe them an explanation of what the something is. It’s thinking time. That’s a legitimate use of your time as a manager.
Batch your email time
Checking email every five minutes means you never actually focus on anything else. And you’re not being more responsive, you’re just being more reactive.
Check email three times a day max. Morning, lunchtime, end of day. Deal with what needs dealing with whilst your there and then close it.
Everything else can wait. If it’s genuinely urgent, people will sure as heck find you another way.
Push back on default invites
Your boss sends a meeting invite to twelve people because they’re not sure who needs to be there. You’re one of the twelve.
Before you just accept it, ask: “What do you need from me in this meeting?”
Half the time, they’ll realise they don’t actually need you there. The other half, you’ll know what to prepare instead of turning up and guessing.
The uncomfortable bit
Saying no to meetings feels risky. You worry you’ll miss something important. Or that people will think you’re not a team player.
But here’s the thing: if you’re in meetings all day, you’re not actually managing. You’re not having the one-to-ones with your team. You’re not thinking about the problems you need to solve. You’re not doing the work that only you can do.
Being present in meetings you don’t need to be in isn’t dedication. It’s just being busy.
What to do on Monday
Look at your calendar for next week. Pick three meetings you’re going to cancel or delegate to someone else on your team.
Turn off email notifications.
Block one hour on Wednesday afternoon and mark it as busy.
That’s it. You don’t need a new system or an app or a course on time management. You need to cut the noise so you can actually start to do your job.