You know that feeling when you land in a new city and your calendar looks like a game of Tetris? Travel weeks can devour focus. Yet the same constraints can help you sprint on the right work if you design for them. Here’s the playbook I use with execs and teams to turn planes, hotel […]
Mondays can either feel like a headwind or a runway. The difference is the ritual you decide to follow through with. You do not need a 4-hour routine or a new app. You need a small set of repeatable moves that lower friction, surface priorities, and get you one clear win before lunch. Do these […]
You already know meetings multiply faster than rabbits. Projects stall, context gets lost, and your best thinkers do their real work after hours. The fix is not louder Slack threads. It is durable playbooks that make async the default without killing momentum. Here are 17 ideas that you can use for your team: 1) Write […]
You can feel it the second a meeting wobbles: cameras off, vague goals, fifteen minutes gone to status theater. Meanwhile, the real work sits in another tab. The fix is not another framework. It is a handful of short, humane scripts that reset purpose, surface tradeoffs, and move decisions across the line. Use them to […]
You already know the problem. Your roadmap looks tidy in Jira or Linear, then delivery slips–because priorities float, meetings collide, and nobody’s calendar matches the plan. That gap between intent and time is where velocity dies. The fix is not another status doc. It is wiring your roadmap directly to your Calendar so time, teams, […]
If you feel slammed yet end the day wondering what you actually shipped, your meetings are the prime suspect. Microsoft’s Work Trend Index shows calendars filling earlier and later as the “infinite workday” creeps in. At the same time, research published in the MIT Sloan Management Review found that even one meeting-free day can improve autonomy and […]
When your calendar resembles a game of Tetris and your chat pings resemble a stock ticker, protecting deep work can feel selfish. It isn’t. High-impact work depends on extended, distraction-free focus, a point Cal Newport popularized in his work on deep work. Meanwhile, collaboration has increased by 50% or more in recent years, with many […]
Your calendar tells a story about how you work—how you prioritize, communicate, and make decisions. In an era of hybrid schedules, global teams, and numerous meetings, the small choices you make in invitations and scheduling add up to a personal brand. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, last-minute, ad hoc meetings and after-hours activity are […]
Most high performers can muscle through a crunch. Burnout is different—an erosion that occurs when chronic stressors, such as nonstop meetings and always-on expectations, consume your typical day. The World Health Organization classifies burnout as an occupational phenomenon caused by “chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed,” not a personal failing (WHO definition). If parts of […]
You’re booking meetings, stuffing tasks, and “managing your calendar”—but still ending each day feeling behind. Your calendar should be your productivity tool, not your tormentor. Below are seven red flags that your calendar is working against you — and what to do about each one. 1. It’s full of back-to-back meetings (no buffer time) When […]
