The Stress Management Secret No One Talks About

It's called the fake meeting, and it's more common than you think.


With the advent of shared office calendars, company-issued Blackberries and 24/7 contact, the novelty -- and bragging rights -- for having a chock-a-block, multi-coloured online diary soon fades away. The fact that your existence is now pretty much created and accounted for on a publicly accessed schedule becomes tyrannical. 


So how do you outwit Outlook? By making sure you block time off with a meeting, even if it's only with yourself. When I was starting my career, I thought this was heresy. Now that I've experienced 17-hour days packed entirely with meetings not of my own choosing, I learned 'tis better to have a controlling hand in the process.


Some useful questions to help you block off catch-up-with-yourself times:


When does your real Monday start? Does it start on Sunday afternoon with a quick browse of the emails that poured in over the weekend, or do things really kick off when you get into the office on Monday? If you're one of the former, a discreet 45-minute breather on Tuesday morning helps enormously.


What are the busiest days of your week? For some client-facing people, it's Friday afternoon when panicked customers who put off doing what they needed to do since Monday dump their troubles at the last minute. It may help then to block off an hour on Friday morning in preparation for the expected calls in the afternoon.


What time of the day least impacts your work? If your firefighting skills are most needed in the morning when chaos usually erupt, be a sport and block off time for yourself in the afternoon. Doing it when all hell breaks loose is very poor form.


Keep your fake meeting to an hour maximum. Any longer and you must ask yourself if a) you're overdue for a holiday or b) you've got an issue with work. Both definitely need to be addressed.

To use an analogy, if you've been the type who lets the phone battery run out before recharging, learn a new habit: Recharge as you go. The secret to managerial sanity is being the master of your diary. Never let your diary master you.