4 Ideas for Balancing Your Calendar

In Expansive Impact, we touch on a challenge I have navigated over the years, fondly (and sometimes not-as-fondly) named Tiny Boxes on the Calendar. 

Tiny boxes on the calendar represent our meetings, our commitments, and the way we spend our time and our energy. 

If the tiny boxes are all aligned with our values and priorities, they aren't a problem, as long as they work for us. 

The challenge arises when our tiny boxes may be misaligned with our values or priorities–or when they deplete our energy and leave us feeling drained. 

An even harder challenge can be when all of the tiny boxes are actually things we do want to do—but they are stacked so tightly that we have little space for anything else. . .  an impromptu coffee meetup, no space for a quick walk to the park, a dinner gathering with friends that doesn't take three months of planning and six doodle polls. 

How do you find balance with your tiny boxes? Here are some ideas that others have shared or implemented:

1. One day or morning per week without meetings, implemented team-wide or organization-wide

2. A “no summer sports” family policy to create space for summer things like being on the water or going camping

3. A policy of not scheduling meetings before 10 am to allow time for heads-down work and also respect people in multiple time zones

4. A maximum number of certain types of activities per day, per week, per month. (Note: in a program like Calendly you can specify these maximum numbers.) 

What else would you add to the list?

And how do you find yourself thinking about, and navigating, the top of Tiny Boxes on the Calendar?