Do you start every week by looking in your diary filled with dates of meetings? Then it's time to consider whether your participation in all of these meetings is necessary and beneficial in any way. Try a little test - How much of your time do you organize yourself and how much is being scheduled for you by someone else?
Craig Jarrow, American consultant, columnist and author of the successful book Time Management Ninja, says that unsolicited meetings are worse for our productivity than unsolicited e-mail - because e-mails can be filtered or simply deleted. In the case of meetings, you should refuse politely - find a good reason not to participate. First, you must however be able to recognize that the proposed meeting will be a real waste of time. It can be identified by the following signals:
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More than eight people should meet.
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The meeting has no predetermined agenda.
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Neither the place to meet at was set.
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The meeting is scheduled for more than one hour.
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The topic of the meeting is not clearly specified.
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The meeting is being called at the last minute.
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The meeting is held regularly at the same time.
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The meeting will be held at lunch time.
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It is clear that someone called the meeting to get his work done by others.
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The aim of the meeting is to announce something that can simply be sent by e-mail.
Now try to clean your diary.
-kk-