Back to back meetings: How do you deal?

I feel as though ever since we left the office on Friday 13th, March (yes.. I know) last year - I have never worked so much in my life.


It’s constant meetings, both internal and external all day long. And you can put a ‘lunch’ block on your calendar but realistically that means eating at the desk while you catch up.


Who else is running 8-6 back to back all week? And how do you cope with it?

🙏 Mental Wellness
3
salesnerd
WR Officer
4
Head of Growth
I'd like to pretend this is a new phenomenon for me since COVID, but I've pretty much always operated this way. Here are my tips: 

1) Book your calendar and actually stick with it. Private events are your friend here. Block time in advance and hold yourself to it. 

2) Actually get away from your desk. Go for a walk with the dog. Take a quick drive. Work on something in your yard/basement/garage. Shit, just watch an episode of something on the couch. 

3) Block time at the end of the day. I know it feels silly, but if you block 5-6 every once in a while, you'll find yourself able to complete everything you need to before 5pm. If you don't, you can pick it back up at 6 for a little bit. 
WellOverRack
Good Citizen
1
Team Lead, Account Management
Playing devils advocate here because I love your points, however I literally am back to back. Meaning I can’t leave the chair from 8-6 because it’s straight demos/calls/internals all day. 

I think tbh, it’s just more important I get outside before/after the work day to refresh.
salesnerd
WR Officer
2
Head of Growth
Good lord, that's miserable. How long out does your calendar get booked up? Mine is usually about 7-10 days out. I know it doesn't help you right now, but you could book blocks on your calendar now for next week...
WellOverRack
Good Citizen
0
Team Lead, Account Management
It’s only B2B about 7 days in advance, but as I get closer to the blocks I’ve put in place it’s either: 

A) Remove them to help win a deal
B) Use the holds and work later as a result. 

You’re right, miserable.
GuyBews
Opinionated
2
Director
I’ve felt this pain.  A few things that worked for me:

1) Push back on internal meetings: challenge the organizer on the goals/objectives of the meeting, and whether it’s something you need to give input live, or if it can be done asynch.

2) Challenge your AEs to run some of their external meetings on their own (where you can), and provide feedback / coaching in Gong/Chorus (assuming you have one of those tools).  You can keep the external meeting blocks on your calendar so nobody double books you, then you get that 30 minutes back.  Obv there will be meetings you need to be on, but it shouldn’t be more than 1/day/rep.

3) saw someone else post this, but I’ll re-emphasize, block off time to get shit done.  For me that’s mornings until 9a, lunch 12-1230, and then 5-530p. 

I’ve also seen the built-in 10-minute meeting buffer work, but that needs to be a top-down decision.  Hope that helps.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
Take a few calls outside. Schedule 10 min break blocks on your calendar throughout the day to force yourself to get up, stretch, walk, anything other than looking at a screen. This helps.
WellOverRack
Good Citizen
0
Team Lead, Account Management
I love the calls outside idea, but I’m a creature of habit with my workstation and needing resources. What sort of calls do you take outside regularly? 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
Internal team calls. Training WebEx calls. Basically anything I know I have to sit and not speak very much.
MSPSales
Politicker
1
Partner Development Manager
If it's internal meetings that are low impact and low input from your side - try to do something while you listen to the meeting. I will sometimes catch up on news, personal messages etc and that helps slow my days down and avoid burn out 
Trinity
WR Officer
1
BusDev
+1 with sales nerd. Time blocking works for me. I also do most of my high value work in the morning.
WellOverRack
Good Citizen
1
Team Lead, Account Management
Same. I get on between 7-8am and crank out work before calls start so that at 5-6pm I can just get up and walk away. 
PrivateJLR
Good Citizen
0
Commercial Director
There is a couple ways I try to manage my calendar: 

1. Book demos for 45 minutes, rather than 1 hour. I find that if I'm being mindful of time while on the demo, I can cover everything I wanted to cover within 45 minutes, saving myself from being back to back. 

2. Private appointments - Not all time blocks in my calendar need to be 100% business oriented. Blocking specific time to have coffee, go for walks, etc. helps to maintain control of your day. 

3. Time block for all business related tasks - call prep, admin work, etc. 

The main point here is that people won't often book over your blocked time, and so whether it's private or public - as long as you're blocking time you will find yourself less "stretched thin"
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