Do Not Disturb day

Hello fellow business owners! I recently read about a guy who sets aside a 'Do Not Disturb' day every Wednesday, in which he sets aside the whole day to work *on* the business as opposed to *in* the business and he doesn't take calls/have meetings/etc. on that day. So I thought I'd give it a go and implement it myself.

It's going well, but I just wanted to ask you all whether you do this in your own businesses and if so:

- Did you tell your clients about it? If so, how did you go about telling them?
- Do you break the 'rule' to accomodate people or are you insistent on maintaining it as a Do Not Disturb day?

 

It sounds like a good idea.
In the workplace, I would like to implement a no meeting Monday - and Friday.

 

No meetings on any day ending in 'Y'

 

Very good idea. I've turned off email notifications as a first step.

Might look at implementing something similar.

 

My Do not disturb time is

7:00 pm to 11:00 pm
6:00 am to 9:00am

can get plenty work done during after and before hours!

 

I don't own my own business, but can get very tied into meetings. Its not uncommon for me to 'lose' an entire day in meetings (10hrs of meetings in a 12hr day).

Therefore I will regularly book out time on my calendar so that people won't book a meeting during that time. Just to get work done. I try and limit it to 4hr blocks a couple of times a week.

I don't tell anyone about it, just close the door, turn email off and don't take calls.

If it was me I wouldn't tell clients about it, when booking meetings just say Wednesday is booked, pick tuesday or thursday. Very few clients would contact you often enough to realise you are never available on a Wednesday.

Maybe put an 'out of office' on your email letting them know you are out of the office today, and will reply tomorrow.

Blacky

 

I guess it comes down to how busy your business actually is and your involvement in the day to day activities directly with the customer.

 

Yes I do this, on Wednesdays as well. Will only see one client for the day. Rest of day is to complete application and make sure I'm on top of everything.

 

Meetings can be a real time waster in a decent sized office. If it's booked for 1 hour, people tend to use that whole hour. 2 hours? Use it all.
It would be good if people were able to stick to an agenda and get it done in just enough time that it needs.

 

In our office we have a "red dot" system.
Basically means no client calls or staff interruptions for up to 2.5 hours.

I personally don't think having an entire day is good, being an accountant I pride and differentiate myself by being fully accessible to clients all the time.
As if I am only competing with other firms purely based on a product (financial statements and a tax return) then price point is the only competitive advantage.. As the industry changes we don't want to go down that route..

 

I put aside three x three hours blocks each week and no one is replied to in that time.

Removing your email notifications is a great start and is turning your mobile onto silent for periods that you need to concentrate.

 

I trialled something on Wednesdays, too. Last summer. I took the day off. I'm looking forward to this summer.

 

That's a good idea. I would like to try that with Mondays. And Fridays.

 

Blocking out time is one of the most effective and productive tricks for life in general–whether it's time to work on a business; a personal project; to nurture relationships, or form new ones; to maintain your fitness; to form new habits...the list is endless.

I have found it incredibly effective having carved out undisturbed time from 5am-8am daily.

 

Thanks Blacky, this makes a lot of sense.

 

This is a great point - I think it confirms one of the universal laws: "Meetings expand to fit the time allotted" I had a former colleague who used to book 45 min meetings, instead of the traditional hour. Funnily enough, we'd get just as much done in that time, and we'd still either have a break between back-to-backs, or just get more out of the day.

 

That's the one, I knew there was some kind of saying.
We used to have 1 hour team meetings at the coffee shop, would get just as much done with talking crap and ordering and what not.

 

In my several careers, I have sat in a lot of meetings.
There are internal meetings (staff) and external ones (clients).
The mistake people make is holding internal meetings, which should be quick, in a comfortable room. I remember when I worked in advertising agencies, we used to have meetings in boardrooms and they were always the comfortable room in the building - best chairs, views, a fridge etc etc. Nobody wanted to leave. People started to see them as a break from work.
When I started to run internal meetings, I had them in a room with only stand up tables. Boy, that sped things up. (Occasionally, in the winter I also snuck the aircon down a few degrees.) Sometimes even now, I will stand in a meeting to get the idea across that we want to resolve whatever we are talking about quickly.

Scott

 

@Depreciator you are, in fact, a genius.

 

Ah yes, in this ever-increasingly fast world it's so easy not to set aside time for the big tasks of working on crucial parts of the business. I am certainly guilty of not prioritising enough and find myself at the end of the week, still with the "biggest" tasks not yet done or deferred until the following week. This year I made a conscious effort to put aside blocks of time (an entire day is simply not workable in our industry) for particular business development tasks once per week as minimum (either 9-1 or 1-5) and so far this is working effectively.

I find the biggest impediment to "planning and thinking time" is the ongoing disturbance by email and phone notifications so, like others, I switch off here (unlike my young adult children I simply cannot concentrate on writing with annoying buzzing/ringing/pinging noises interrupting me)

Re:meetings. Scott, I get where you're coming from LOL I only wish I could make some people stand instead of getting all cozy on a comfy chair- we'd be far more efficient!