Stop serving up your time like it’s all-you-can-eat at Golden Corral. Today’s specials should be: your sanity, your lunch break, and time with loved ones.
A quote that sticks out to me here is from Justin Welsh: “How am I training people to treat me?” Allowing your calendar to be an open feast is not a good way to train people on how to treat you.I have written about the toxicness of busyness many times (past posts tagged below to make it easier for you to find), so this is clearly something I feel strongly about.
The Problem With “Hop-Ons”
I get invited to a lot of what Damien and I have come to call “hop-ons” (bonus points if you get the reference) - 1:1 calls with random people who likely want to sell us something. It usually pops into our DMs on LinkedIn or Alignable like this: “Hey, let’s hop on a call so we can talk about how we can help each other! Here’s my calendar.”
Many times when I take a look at these people’s calendars, I see they have every day from like 6am - 8pm open for people to select from to schedule their call. Like, what?! Why are you making yourself so available?
Why an Open Calendar Backfires
- It makes you look desperate. It sends the signal that if you are that available, you clearly aren’t in demand from others, that you aren’t busy. Not a good look.
- It tells me that you don’t value your time. If there is no time built into your schedule for yourself for relaxation, downtime, deep work, hell, even just eating time, you are going to burn out. Also, what about time with your loved ones? They should matter more to you than your random hop-on with me (who probably doesn’t give a shit about what you are trying to peddle). Justin Welsh even says to create “working hours that leave space for other parts of life.”
- It gives people decision overload. There are many studies out there that show if people have more than 3 options, they either will not choose or just default to the first one. So when you share a calendar full of 1000 different date/time options, it likely creates the opposite effect of what you are going for….which many believe it is “being flexible” and “giving people options.” I like how Seth Godin put it in one of his blog posts in July: “A disciplined menu structure doesn’t limit user choice, it increases it.”
Bonfires, Not Campfires
“I had 8 proverbial campfires on my desk every day to tend to, but no bonfires.” - Matthew McConaughey
How should you change? I don’t have a one-size-fits-all solution to this (it isn’t a Comfy).
What works for me to create a bonfire is this: I have a calendar that I selectively share with hop-on requests that has availability only on Thursdays between the hours of 1pm - 6pm, with buffer times built in so there are no more than 3 scheduled in a day, and is only available 3 weeks at a time (meaning it isn’t available to book 12 weeks out). This way, I know I can plan my weeks to know that if 1:1 calls are scheduled, they will be on Thursdays. Will this work for everyone? Of course not, that’s why I said what works for me.
Shut Down the Buffet
Your first step is identifying your priorities (Damien hates that word since there really can only be one priority….but I’ll let him write his rant blog on that) and building your calendar around those.
Then take away the public buffet. You do not need to be available 24/7, you just don’t. Pick a few time slots (three is the magic number here….) per week where you know you are in a peak state for video/phone calls.
Hope this helps reduce the feeding frenzy around your precious time.
“What you trade your attention for is what your life becomes.” - James Clear
Other posts on “busyness”
- Book Brew 96: Busy Isn’t Better
- Book Brew 59: Avoid the Sand Trap
- Book Brew 92: Unsubscribe from Busy and Focus on What Matters
- Book Brew 128: Solopreneur? More Like Solo-Burnt-Out.
- Book Brew 99: Why Wearing Every Hat Is Costing You More Than You Think (And How to Fix It)
Ponder This
- Does your calendar reflect your values, hopes, dreams, or everyone else’s?
- Are you giving people options, or overwhelming them with choices?
- What’s your “bonfire” that deserves protected time?
Books/Newsletters
- 3-2-1 newsletter - James Clear
- Lyrics of Livin’ newsletter - Matthew McConaughey
- The Saturday Solopreneur newsletter - Justin Welsh
- Seth’s Blog - Seth Godin
Comments