How to maintain productivity when your schedule is full of meetings

Research shows that the average UK office worker spends two years of his or her life preparing for and sitting in on meetings. How can anyone get any actual work done? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam recently wrote for Fast Company with top tips to you maintain productivity when you’re stuck in meetings.

Plan ahead
It’s not always possible to block out set times in your daily schedule, so instead look at your week as a whole and plan “deep work” into any free slots.

Avoid distractions
When you do have time to focus on important tasks, be sure you do just that. Turn off your email notifications (turn on auto-replies if necessary), take your phone off the hook and inform your colleagues that you won’t be available for a certain amount of time.

Utilise early hours
If you have something that really needs to be done but your schedule is totally filled with meetings, use pre-work hours to maintain productivity. Try to get to the office slightly early and rather than catching up on social media use the quiet to get down to the nitty gritty.

Try to schedule meetings later in the day
Unless there’s a rule in your office that you have to be available for meetings from 9am, ask your boss and colleagues to book meetings later in the morning, such as from 10am. That gives you a solid hour in the morning to get busy work out of the way.

Book deep work as appointments
If your calendar is available for other members of your team to see, schedule appointments with yourself during so nobody can assume you’re free for an impromptu discussion.

Utilise your commute
If you commute by train or you’re travelling for business, use your journey to get tasks out of the way. Catch up on emails on your phone, or bring your laptop along to crank out a report or two.

Be proactive
It’s almost impossible to leave a meeting once it starts, so look at the agenda for each one planned for the week and decide if it’s really essential for you to be in them. If a meeting is pointless for you, try to get out of it ahead of time, cancel it, or streamline the agenda so you can make it shorter. Once you’re in the meeting keep everyone on topic to avoid wasting precious time.

Read the original article at bit.ly/29yiVuS