No meetings
Declining meetings and answering in writing instead
A standing rule: the meeting happens only when a written note genuinely cannot do the job. Writing it out forces the sender to work out what they actually think, and anyone can read a memo at any hour, which takes the calendar out of the problem. People who hold the rule keep unstructured one-to-one conversations and drop the recurring slot. In a large company the recovered time runs to whole days a week. Adopting it costs nothing. It goes down badly with colleagues who measure work in attendance.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Seth GodinDoes it
Author · Seth's Blog, published daily
Goes to no meetings, and the rule he offers everyone else is to skip one whenever a memo would do. In a big organization he reckons that alone saves thirty hours a week. Even a freelancer, he says, gets clearer by writing the thing down. Conversations he is in favor of.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #837 transcript
Aimed at the same thing
Other entries filed under productivity or focus.
- HabitFREE, no cost
Daily reading
A fixed daily reading block, usually books rather than feeds
On record from 25 of 62 tracked people: 23 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Early rising
A fixed, early wake time, often before anyone else is awake
On record from 11 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 1 has discussed it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily writing
Write something every day, published or not
On record from 10 of 62 tracked people: 8 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Phone-free first hour
No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 2 recommend it - HabitFREE, no cost
Margin notes
Writing in the margins while reading, especially where you disagree with the author
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - HabitFREE, no cost
Thinking retreats
Blocks of time cleared of the schedule to sit with one hard problem
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 has discussed it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.