"Fill your own cup with what gives you energy"

"This is how I approached it during a time looking after an international creative team, dealing with the demands of a young kid on top of several different time zones. But I gradually sussed out what worked for me with little experiments, and managed to protect two working mornings per week, blocking out my calendar to ensure no meetings before 10:30 am. This allowed me to work on projects which creatively sparked or energised me."

"As a team, we also created a pact together: never schedule a Friday meeting. This gave everyone permission to politely reschedule a non-time-sensitive meeting to another day. It was an effective move that gave everyone sanity and respect, not just for our personal energy, but for our own creativity. My boss didn't even realise we did this until a year later, proving that it did not impact the quality of our work or productivity. In fact, it made us all better and less cranky"

Identify personal peak times and protect two to three meaningful work blocks each week to foster creativity and deep work. Block mornings or specific days on the calendar to prevent meetings and interruptions. Avoid doing email first; limit inbox time to a quick overnight scan and handle urgent items only when necessary. Create team agreements, such as a no-Friday-meetings pact, to give permission to reschedule non-urgent meetings and protect collective focus. Small experiments and consistent boundaries improve individual energy, team sanity, creativity, and overall productivity.

Read at Itsnicethat