I was working with a client who was still awake at 2am because she had a project to finish. She said that she spent so much time during the day in meetings and had so many emails that the only time she could find to finish her work was at night.
I asked her, “who owns her calendar?”
She looked at me like I had lost my mind.
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿?
Take a moment and allow yourself to look at the first two hours of your calendar. It may be the best way to determine how you will sleep tonight.
When you start your workday with an hour to focus on your to-do list you know that you have time for your work and will still have time for sleep.
Even if you cannot own the whole of your calendar, block the first two hours of your day to work on the first one or two items on your to-do list and to look at and prioritize your emails.