Who actually enjoys meetings? It’s a question we’ve all asked ourselves at least once in our career and yet, it seems like they’re becoming all the more recurrent. If you’re working in a big office with many colleagues and you’re not paying attention, you might as well spend the better time of your week in a room or app, attending meetings that are meant to schedule other meetings and with no time left to actually do your job. Clock-blocking might be the answer to your problems.
The idea behind clock-blocking is quite simple – to stop your colleagues from planning you in for an unnecessary meeting when seeing an empty spot in your calendar. You consciously block time slots in your calendar, allowing you to concentrate on your actual work. Just like scheduling your workout helps to actually get it done, planning when you’ll be able to spend some quality time working on your priorities will make sure it’s done. Moreover, it will give you some well-needed peace of mind and bring down your stress levels and it will avoid working after-hours unless absolutely needed.
“Put clock-blocking into practice by scheduling recurring blocks of time for regular responsibilities, then review your priorities at the beginning of each week or day and assign time blocks to specific tasks. To reduce stress and overwhelm, account for the extra time needed for each task, block out breaks throughout your day and book dedicated time for unexpected tasks”, Elyssa Desai, a mindset expert and coach, told Stylist.
While at first it might feel like you’re cheating when you’re blocking your calendar when you don’t have to attend a meeting, you’ll soon understand it has a positive impact on the work you’re doing. After all, meetings are great when you’ve got something to communicate but when you haven’t been able to do anything, they quickly become awkward and unnecessary.
Clock-blocking aside, try to be critical when accepting to attend a meeting. There are some you won’t be able to opt out of, of course, but all too often we find ourselves stuck in a meeting where we don’t actually have anything to add to the conversation. When you get a meeting invite, it pays off to check whether or not your presence is needed.
If you still need a good reason to do some clock-blocking, you should know that 63% of UK workers do it according to research by Owl Labs. Millennials are the most eager to do so, while Gen Z and Gen X are still hesitant. Hybrid workers (53%) tend to clock-block more than in-office (40%) and remote (7%) workers. Moreover, most workers consider meetings before 8 am or after 4:30 pm to be too early or too late.
