I rarely disagree* with Harvard Business Review. But then I read this:

A meeting-free day or even half-day may be your ideal, but you may never have this type of time. Waiting for a slice of project nirvana keeps you from getting started when you can. A better approach is to accept and work within the reality that meetings happen.

There’s a bright pink Post-It note on my desk that’s followed me through three companies now. Scrawled in Sharpie on its now crumpled and torn surface are these words, which hit me after a 60-hour week during which I felt like I accomplished nothing of substance:

Nobody will protect your focus for you.

I proactively block off two days a week. One day I jealously guard for focused thinking and doing time on my individual work. The other I reserve as open office hours for my team, ensuring I’m available for them even when meetings threaten to consume me.

I’ve done this for about eight years now. It’s made me far more productive at my individual work, far more effective as a leader, and far less stressed and burned out. I no longer apologize for it, and I won’t negotiate it.

* In fairness, the author pivots and suggests an approach of blocking project time in the second half of the article.