No meetings with strangers
A standing no to anyone with no existing reason to be meeting you
By default, the answer is no. Requests to meet from outside your existing circles do not get a slot, though their emails still get a real answer, because the asks grow faster than the hours do. Deciding case by case costs more time every year a name travels further. Most people who hold the rule publish an order of priority. That way the refusal reads as a limit on capacity, not a judgment on whoever asked.
Who backs it
Sorted by strength of stance
- Adam GrantDoes it
Organizational psychologist · Think Again
Meetings with people he has no existing reason to meet are a categorical no. He says he will still answer a reasonable email from a stranger. His stated order is family first, students second, colleagues and friends third.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show #399 transcript
Aimed at the same thing
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No email, news or social media until you have done something of your own
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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.