You can easily burn through a work day just by checking email, slack, and going to meetings. It’s easy to spend your day doing that, because it requires little thoughtful effort, at least compared to pursuing what actually needs to get done. That’s not to say these tasks are unimportant. But all too often we build our days around the busy work rather than the meaningful work.
We stick to the easy tasks because they often give the impression that they’re work that matters. These activities give the feeling of progress and work, even though they’re mostly empty calories in the work world. I don’t mean to say they are never worthwhile— simply that we shouldn’t build our days around them.
The only trick I’ve found to making the meaningful work happen consistently over the busy work is to schedule it. For me, that’s the literal act of blocking time in the calendar for the tasks that matter each week.
It’s a little onerous to maintain at first, but it comes more naturally as you do it regularly. And the benefit is that because it’s on your calendar, the mere act of scheduling means other tasks, namely meetings, cannot sneak in as easily.
Give it a try if you’re struggling to get the right work done.