Here are some ideas. These are just suggestions so you can, if you want, select
any that might be helpful and ignore the rest.
You can bring a laptop computer to meetings and do stuff during the meetings.
Surely there's at least about 1 minute between meetings; people have to walk
into and out of the room. Maybe you can use this time to do things on a laptop
computer, handheld device or paper notebook, possibly while walking (although
you also have to watch where you're going), or while you say "just a minute" and
others wait -- they might also want to use that time to get a drink of water or
something.
You can extend the length of your workday, cutting into personal time.
You can keep phone calls short. You can sound very warm and friendly and inviting
for a minute or two as if you're happy to talk for a long time, then interrupt the call
by saying "I'm really sorry, but I have six other calls I need to make before a meeting
in 15 minutes." You can purposely schedule your calls to near the end of your "doing"
time so that you can honestly say things like that; that is, e.g. do a few minutes of computer stuff near the beginning of your "doing" time, then fill the rest of the
time with calls.
You can probably reduce your total workload: reduce number of clients, work part-time, etc.
You can ask others in the same profession how they manage.
You can arrive late for meetings, perhaps rushing in with a flustered
look and an apology. Or, you can state that you need to leave a meeting early.
Maybe you can skip some meetings as if you'd forgotten to go.
You can do computer stuff while eating lunch, or in the evening at home
in a relaxed mood as if it's a hobby. You can use a method of commuting
to and from work, such as taking a bus, which allows you time to do
stuff on the computer.
You can change your system to do more in a paper notebook rather than
a computer so you can more easily do it at times like while waiting in line
at the grocery store.
You can do stuff on the computer while talking on the phone.
You can do some things by email instead of on the phone.
Maybe you can use different software or different ways of using it to
get the things done much faster. You can think about the purpose
of the tasks and what you would actually have to do if you had ideal
software.
You can decide to let a lot of things just drop: when the thing comes
up, you can just decide immediately "I'm never going to do that; I choose
to spend my time on calls and meetings" and never put it on the computer
or do anything with it. You can select only a small number of essential
things to do. (This would save you even the time it takes to put it
on a someday/maybe list, but would violate the GTD method and might
leave you worrying about it, interfering with stress-free productivity.)
You can start saying
"no" to some of the meetings. Maybe your co-workers would follow
your example and be grateful to you.
You can consider whether the expectations in your profession are reasonable
and whether those expectations can be changed.
You can embrace the meetings: think of them as a opportunity
to get meaningful stuff done in cooperation with others, and find
ways to accomplish things by networking during the meetings instead
of on the computer.
alenabakai;93947 said:
Usually any meeting is about 1 hour long and goes back to back. I can do nothing about that because this is my profession.
I have trouble with that. That reminds me of then-Prime Minister John Turner saying
"I had no option". One always has options.
I don't know your situation, but I know that you don't have to think and write
in those terms. You can choose to say things like "I'm choosing to go to the meetings
because the consequences of missing one would be worse than the loss of an hour
of 'doing' time." That's more empowering language. Maybe you can think of
even better words than that, focussing on the benefits of going.
If you have a supervisor, you can tell them that you need to reduce the number
of meetings and calmly and professionally explain why.
I don't know what the effect of telling them this would be, but
it is one of your options.
You don't have to live up to others' expectations. If people expect things
that are humanly impossible, it would be ridiculous to say that you have
to do those things.
