Have you gone through your recurring meetings and cancelled or shortened the ones that no longer need you?

A meeting audit means listing every recurring meeting and asking whether you decide anything there. Most leaders find a few hours a week they can hand off or replace with a written update.

Do you use a tool that automatically protects focus time on your calendar?

Reclaim.ai, Clockwise, Motion, or the Focus time feature in Outlook and Google Calendar book thinking time for you and move flexible meetings around it.

How to automate it

How to automate “sit in back-to-back meetings with no time to think”

Here are 2 ways to spend less time on this, best first. Each comes with steps you can follow today.

120 min

typically, every day

30%

of the time can be automated

Easy

to set up

Fix 1 of 2

Process fixBest fix

Audit your recurring meetings and cut or shorten a third of them

Most leadership calendars are full of recurring meetings that outlived their purpose. A one-hour audit usually frees several hours a week without anyone missing them.

Typically saves about 25% of the time1 h to set up

1List every recurring meeting on your calendar for the next two weeks.
2Mark each one: decide, inform, or relationship. "Inform" meetings become a written update.
3Cancel or send a delegate to anything where you have not spoken or decided in the last three sessions.
4Change default lengths to 25 and 50 minutes in your calendar settings.
5Decline new meetings that arrive without an agenda or a decision to make, and say why.
6Repeat the audit every quarter.

Tools: Outlook or Google Calendar · Microsoft Viva Insights · Clockwise or Reclaim.ai meeting stats

Fix 2 of 2

Software feature

Let your calendar defend focus time automatically

Calendar tools can book and protect thinking time for you and move flexible meetings around it, so focus time survives the week.

Typically saves about 15% of the time20 min to set up

1Turn on Focus time in Outlook (Viva Insights) or Google Calendar, or connect Reclaim.ai, Clockwise or Motion.
2Set a weekly target, for example 6 hours, in blocks of at least 90 minutes.
3Mark your 1:1s and internal syncs as flexible so the tool can move them.
4Agree one or two no-meeting mornings with your team.

Tools: Outlook Focus time (Viva Insights) · Google Calendar Focus time · Reclaim.ai · Clockwise · Motion

Quick wins

Have you tried…

Have you gone through your recurring meetings and cancelled or shortened the ones that no longer need you?: A meeting audit means listing every recurring meeting and asking whether you decide anything there. Most leaders find a few hours a week they can hand off or replace with a written update.
Do you use a tool that automatically protects focus time on your calendar?: Reclaim.ai, Clockwise, Motion, or the Focus time feature in Outlook and Google Calendar book thinking time for you and move flexible meetings around it.

Who does this task

Roles in our library that list this as one of their common tasks. Each guide covers the rest of that role’s week.

CEO / Founder General Manager / VP Department head / Director

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