• I maintain meeting free Mondays


• I don’t dedicate specific days to specific clients. Instead I structure agreements around outputs or a number of hours per week/month


• I have a 24 hour turnaround unless something is genuinely urgent


• I consolidate comms within email or Slack

At first, I’d say yes to everything — meetings are really valuable when you’re starting off. But I reached a point where I was letting myself get scheduled on six to eight hours of phone calls a day. And when I looked at them, I couldn’t identify what the positive outcomes were — and more importantly, I didn’t enjoy doing it.

Instead of checking your email first thing in the morning and then getting sucked in and reacting to other people’s priorities, deal with email at the end of the day. That way, you can use your prime hours for your Highlight and other important work. You’ll probably have a little less energy at the end of the day, but that is actually a good thing