I don’t do meetings on Fridays — here’s why you shouldn’t either
Why ‘no meeting Fridays’ is the best thing ever
Why Friday?
My work tends to build up and snowball throughout the week. You know how it is: you plan on working on something, then something else comes up. That happens to me several times a week, meaning there are all kinds of things on my to-do list I never quite get to.
That’s why meeting-free Friday is so great. First of all: I look forward to this day all week. It’s like a reward for getting through all of my calls.
But meeting-free Friday also gives me a chance to catch up on everything I dropped throughout the week. I’ve been trying this for a while, and I have to tell you: I’m much more productive on Fridays now. I consistently clear my to-do list.
That, in turn, makes my weekends better. I got everything done, so there’s no list in my head of things I’ll need to do Monday morning. This is a big part of the mental health benefit — my downtime is more relaxing now.
Like I said: it’s a small thing, but the benefits are huge.
How to set up your own meeting-free day
If you want to try something similar, don’t overthink it. Block out one day a week during which you won’t have any meetings, then stick to it. Let your coworkers know you’re doing everything possible to avoid meetings on that day.
If you work at a company that uses shared calendars, mark yourself busy on your meeting-free day. Here’s how that looks on my calendar:
Credit:ZapierYou could even use Google Calendar’s out-of-office feature to automatically reject meeting requests on that day, but that’s an extreme measure.
I fully endorse having a meeting-free day on your calendars — it’s a 10/10 strategy. I don’t know if I can ever go back.
Story byDenya Beaudry
Denya is a Team Lead for the Customer Success Team at Zapier. When she’s not training customers she spends her time cooking up pizza in her(show all)Denya is a Team Lead for the Customer Success Team at Zapier. When she’s not training customers she spends her time cooking up pizza in her backyard pizza oven, gardening, playing with her two pups, or remodeling her home in Vancouver, WA.
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