5 Ways to recover from too many online meetings during the day

Wether you are staying at home due to a virus floating around outside or you are managing a team remotely, online meetings are a great way to stay connected with others. But, like everything else in life, balance is key: there is such thing as meeting hangover. And they are real!

Having too many of these meetings, especially “back to back” can seriously undermine your productivity.
One of the primary obstacles to recovering from meetings is the time it takes to mentally switch from one point of focus (the meeting) to another (deep work).
This wasted time then results in loss of productivity, missing deadlines and such.

In this jam, I share with you five ways you can use to have a speedy online meeting mental recovery:

1. Reduce the time you spend in meetings.

This is the first thing to do – take a break and go back and check your calendar. Do you need this many meetings? Things to look for:

• Only hold essential meetings. If the issue can be handled by chat or email, do it that way and then disseminate the results to the wider team.
• Format your meetings to be short, with a clear agenda consisting and 2-3 goals max.
• Include only the people necessary to the planned discussion.
•  If a meeting is to last 30 minutes, it is over by 30 minutes and one second. No exceptions. 

2. Get in the habit of self-debriefing after a meeting.

Reflecting on outcome of meetings will give you perspective if it was necessary or not. In the future you will be able to make decisions before scheduling more meetings. After each meeting, ask some probing questions, such as:

• Did I achieve the goals I set?
• Who participated? Who was relatively silent?
• Did the main discussion get sidetracked significantly?

3. Balance Deep work, Breaks, and Meeting times

Reserve certain time periods (your most productive ones, preferably) for deep work, and resolve to schedule no meetings during these time periods. 

The simple act of scheduling meeting-free times in your calendar that are dedicated solely to this type of work activity helps you relax, knowing you won’t be diverted into other activities that cause distractions and impede focus.

4.  Start with a great morning routine

There’s nothing like starting your day right. I recommend….
Meditation (10 minutes) to gain mindful attention, 30 minute workout to get your heart pumping faster, and a healthy breakfast to charge your energy.

5. Take regular breaks.

Making a habit of taking a few minutes each hour to stand up, walk away from your computer, stretch and go outside helps you maintain a deeper level of focus throughout the day.

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Balance is everything.

Meetings are a great compliment of deep work, and vice-versa. Learn to manage your focus and attention and you will have the most productive day!