I Hate Meetings. Today, I Was the Problem.

I hate back-to-back meetings.

Today, I was the problem.

Anyone who has worked for me knows how I feel about a calendar booked solid. We can talk, collaborate, and get things done without turning every interaction into a meeting.

And yet, today was one virtual meeting after another.

Some were conversations with people I hadn’t caught up with in a while. Others were reviews for my podcast. Good conversations. Worth having.

I just put all of them on the same day.

My usual rule is pretty simple: if there’s no agenda or outline, I probably shouldn’t be in the meeting. I want to know what we’re discussing and why I need to be there.

But today, I booked every meeting. I created every invitation. I needed to be present for all of them.

Hard to complain about the organizer when the organizer is you.

I’m glad I made time for those conversations. I would also like to leave a little room between them to think, get some work done, or step outside.

So what works for you?

Do you protect blocks of time on your calendar? Build in gaps between calls? Have rules about what actually needs a meeting?

How do you make room for useful conversations without turning your entire day into one long video call?