🎒 Microlesson

🪞 Reflect

When was the last time you reviewed your calendar with a critical eye? Are your days filled with back-to-back meetings, or do you have time for focused, meaningful work?

💡 Concept

In remote and hybrid environments, it’s easy for your calendar to become cluttered with recurring or redundant meetings and scattered bits of time are never long enough to get real work done. A regular calendar audit helps you reclaim time, reduce cognitive overload, and make room for deep work.

Here’s how to use a calendar audit to work smarter:

🔍 Look for patterns and problem spots.

Start by reviewing the last 2-4 weeks of your calendar. Are there meetings that frequently feel low value? Are there awkward gaps between meetings—or none at all?

📤 Identify meetings that can go async.

Using the Placeless Taxonomy, identify meetings that could be converted either completely or partly to asynchronous information sharing For instance, status updates or project check-ins often don’t require a live conversation. Convert these into written updates, recorded videos, or shared dashboards.

♻️ Reassess recurring meetings.

Recurring meetings tend to stick around by default. For each one, ask: Does this one still serve a purpose? Could it be reduced in frequency, shortened, or eliminated?

⏰ Restructure your day for energy and focus.

Optimize your remote workday by grouping similar tasks together and blocking time so you can tackle deep work when you’re naturally most focused. Avoid scattering meetings throughout the day; instead batch them to protect uninterrupted time. 

🧠 Make time for thinking, not just reacting.

An overbooked calendar leaves little room for strategic thinking or creativity. Leave blank space for reflection, planning, or learning—and treat it as nonnegotiable.

🎬 Take Action

• Set aside 30 minutes each month to audit your calendar.

• Color code or tag everything in your schedule to visualize how your time is spent (e.g., meetings, async tasks, deep work, admin).

• Eliminate or redesign at least one recurring meeting that no longer adds value.

• Proactively block focused work time before others fill your calendar.

• Encourage your team to audit their calendars too—and lead by example.

🧠 Keep Learning

Learn more about how to audit your calendar in Async at Work.

✅ Check In

🎁Learn with your team!

Refer our weekly microlessons to your team members to learn as a group! Just follow the instructions in the section below to get started.