Your calendar is more strategic than tactical.

Your calendar is more strategic than tactical. It defines what’s important to you, what you prioritize and what you don’t.

You can see it as a measure of how busy you are, which is partly true. But that’s not what really matters. Nobody pays you for being busy. They pay you to add value, as much value as possible. Value that translates into a more successful business.

It’s too easy to feel overwhelmed by a packed 9–6 calendar with overlaps everywhere. That leads to high stress, a sense of unproductiveness, the urge to work longer hours, skipping your workout class, less time with family… and it snowballs from there.

Longer hours aren’t the solution. And even if they were, we’re still capped at 24 hours a day.

Managing your calendar well should be a no-brainer for high performers.

All senior leaders should have intentional free time. If you’re an introvert, it’s twice as important. Free time is not idle time, it’s time to think, write, regroup, and come up with new ideas. There are key things you simply cannot do if you’re always in meetings, talking to others, or drowning in external stimuli.

For example, I use my intentional free time to review my top priorities and figure out a winning plan. How can I get this project back on track without more headcount or more time? Could I redefine the scope without breaking commitments? Is there a simpler solution? What corners make sense to cut? Is it time to change players? What risk am I overlooking? Is it time to change direction?

In most cases, answering these questions requires space and focus.

I also use free time to write about challenges I haven’t solved yet or new ideas that I want to explore. Writing clarifies the problem and makes solutions more obvious. For me, there’s no way I’d come up with a great solution for a complex challenge after a two-hour meeting with ten people. But I can probably do it after an hour of writing.

For some people, walking or meditating works better than writing. That’s fine. The point is, it requires intentional free time.

What does that mean for you? You need to say no to things that seem important. At least, not now.

Think about the 5–8 most important things you need to do well to succeed. Filter out what can be delegated. Keep the 3–4 tasks that only you can do or that are so critical or you love too much that you choose to keep them.

Now you’re down to your 3–4 key tasks. Great start my friend!

Remember Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

Alice: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

Cheshire Cat: “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

Alice: “I don’t much care where.”

Cheshire Cat: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

The same applies to you. If you don’t know your destination and what success looks like, it doesn’t matter how you spend your time.

Look at your calendar and rank your meetings by your key priorities. Start with the easy cuts. Reject, delegate, or cancel them if you’re the owner. Don’t keep them on your calendar “just in case.” They create noise and a false sense of busyness. Then tackle the tough cuts.

You’ll say no to things that matter, things you care about but that don’t move you toward your destination. Some people won’t be happy. But you’re not here to make everyone happy or look busy. You’re here to add value.

If you make a wrong cut, you can always apologize, follow up offline, and attend next time. But it’s rare that it will happen.

Use this as a chance to delegate more. If your organization can’t run without you in the room, that’s a bigger problem to solve. Delegation is usually a win-win: you get time back, and others get a chance to step up.

Adjust your one-on-ones where possible. Some direct reports will thank you, even if they’d never ask. Standups are often overrated; explore cuts there too.

Cancel old commitments. Maybe you don’t need to run team office hours anymore. Maybe you’re not essential in weekly ops meetings when your senior engineers are there. Maybe that mentorship isn’t delivering enough value.

Sometimes it’s humbling to realize things move fine without you. That’s also a good ego check.

Good engineers write excellent code. Great engineers remove unnecessary code.

Good managers add new meetings and create new processes. Great managers remove unnecessary meetings and processes.

Do this and you’ll be on the right path. You’ll deliver more value, your free time will become your most valuable time, and you’ll get back to your workouts and family dinners.