If it’s not on my calendar, I am not taking your call, or I surely won’t “hop on a quick call” for a meeting.
It took me a while to follow this rule, but there’s nothing more frustrating than being interrupted by an unplanned meeting that disrupts my workflow, leading to a productivity drain.
Unplanned meetings can hijack your time, energy,or even temporarily destroy your mental sharpness.
If you’re like me, you enjoy planning your day and staying focused on the task at hand.
The most common reasons why unplanned meetings are bad are:
- Disruption of schedules
- Usually unnecessary
- They waste time for everyone involved
- They shatter deep work
- You’re working reactive-based, not planned-based
- It never ends with one
Disruption Of Schedules
Surprise meetings or calls force you to reshuffle your well-planned calendar. That could lead to delaying deadlines, skipping breaks, or causing stress and frustration.
This might work for individuals who aren’t juggling between priorities and have a singular task all day, but it’s not working for the majority.
They Are Often Unnecessary
Most unplanned meetings could be resolved through asynchronous workspaces, email, and a single text message. Pulling everyone away from their tasks, which disrupts schedules, is often unnecessary.
If a meeting is needed, the host should schedule it in advance and allow others to plan, prepare, and prioritize.
They Waste Time For Everyone
Without any clear agenda, it can be a time sucker. Unplanned meetings can lead to extended discussions or new input that can cause disruption and inefficiency.
Without a clear prepared agenda or structure, participants often don’t even know why they’re there and could sow confusion. That results in deeper or more questions and a waste of time.
They Shatter Deep Work & Focus
The biggest reason, probably. If you’re getting interrupted by “quick calls”, you lose focus and momentum. And it can take up 30 minutes for someone to get back into a flow of deep work.
If you’re focused on work or a task, and you’re forced to switch your brain to a different setting or context, it’s much harder to gain back your momentum and a productive state.
That 10-minute call can potentially lead to an hour loss.
Reactive-Based Habits
It’s often a mistake or a bad habit that inexperienced people develop. If you’re working with a reactive mindset, it could lead others into a state of constant reaction instead of careful planning or strategic thinking.
Working reactively can block you and others from prioritizing long-term goals.
Don’t fall for it. Because if that culture is embedded, you’re setting yourself up with higher expectations and a shorter response time that could become a new normal.
It Never Ends With One
One quick call on a Monday can lead to another the same afternoon or the following days. Which makes it again difficult for anyone to plan accordingly. Instead of accepting those unplanned quick meetings, set a precedent and ask them to write it in an email.
If you don’t, they might keep returning with new “urgencies” and spontaneous calls that wreck your entire day.
How To Avoid Unplanned Meetings
Context is, of course, needed. If the entire company is on fire or a mass data breach in leak happens, that would void the above.
What bothers me the most is that a lot of individuals don’t recognize the difference between urgent and planned meetings.
This happens to me a lot when people slide into my DMs on social media asking for a quick call.
It might fit their agenda or schedule, but that doesn’t mean it’s fitting mine.
Here’s what you can do:
- Propose async work as a default – Use your project management tools or communication channels to document all concerns, agenda points, and feedback. Force your client or others to use this method.
- Set clear boundaries – Set your policy and rules when it’s okay to have ad-hoc meetings or find ways to discourage them, by narrowing time frames and calendar availability.
- Decline politely – Respond to the other party that you’re occupied for the day and ask to schedule on a more fitting day or time. This will help prevent them from working reactively
If that fails, you could also try to implement no-meeting blocks if the calendar is shared. Or insist on a clear agenda for why the meeting is needed and timebox it.
Close
Looking back, I fell more than once into this trap. And instead of being more productive, it became my worst nightmare. I was constantly shifting gears, and it took too long to regain control of my workflow.
I ended up doing much less than intended in a day.
The problem isn’t one unplanned meeting, but the cumulative effect. Once you allow your client or others to set up those “quick calls”, you open a gate you want to shut down. I’ve seen startups with small teams that were having meetings 4 days a week. Resulting in never delivering, which led to shutting down.
They were constantly trying to debate one minor item after another because one of the co-founders decided to start setting up ad-hoc meetings.
Try to avoid those unplanned meetings, don’t fall for the DMs looking for a quick meetup on Zoom or Google Hangouts.
Own your time, set your policies, and don’t let it affect your mental well-being or productivity.