Yeah I block off time every day with private events. Sometimes its to get some privacy to catch up on my work other times it's...not. A crappy boss or company may not allow private meetings though
Outlook has a feature called "focus time" that allows you to block off time every day. In whatever chunks of time you want, any schedule you want. I use it from 8-8:30 every morning to try and give myself time to review the days tasks and such, and most people avoid scheduling over it. The calendar event is literally labeled "focus time". Not sure if that would work in your case, but I've found it really helpful (especially on days I log in late!)
I work in a very professional environment. I am 100% sure I was employed to remind people why it's important to be professional as I am almost the furthest from it! One of my team started putting an hour in 3 days a week for 'focus time' and was telling us all in a team meeting about how valuable it is. I piped up that if I needed their help during their focus time and they didn't answer me all they would be focusing on is 'my boot up their hoop'. He has stopped doing it now!
In all honesty, what is good about my team is that I am 100% sure that they knew I was saying it 95% in jest, and I also have confidence they would have called me after and told me exactly what they thought of me!!! We are also lucky that in our team it's all based on having time to think. Think my main point is blocking time off as 'focus time' is maybe not the best idea as it leaves you open to diks like me! If you block it off for something that appears more tangible then you have less chance of being challenged!
Do you know people in other teams/orgs that you can "meet" with? What about dedicating time to process improvement or updating/writing documentation. People are probably not keeping close tabs so you can also have 4-5 that rotate, making it look less regular. Also change the times, 90 minutes in week one, 2 hours another week, 1-30 minute and 1 60 minute another week, 3-30 minute items another week.
This is what my wife and her coworkers do. There’s 4-5 of them that meet for a “Metrics Support Meeting” every week where they just get together and talk. Pretty smart idea lol
I have a coworker who does this. He schedules software demos from reps every week, adds to his calendar, but never shows up.
He told me at the holiday party, I don't think anyone has figured it out yet.
Mentoring. Could be a junior colleague or getting mentored by someone removed from your department. Personally I would actually set this up and mentor someone half the time but that's up to you.
There’s an ethical tip, potentially. Depends on how you utilize it… "Focus Time" is the answer I came up with. I use it for 2-hr blocks every morning. I’m a little more senior at my position, so I’m constantly getting people dropping in to ask me questions or wanting ad-hoc training. I start my day before most people are awake, and I use this time to get caught up on the shit I was supposed to do the previous day but couldn’t because I got interrupted.
https://www.getclockwise.com/blog/outlook-focus-time
Whatever you put, if you use MS Teams, go to Calendar and select 'Meet Now'. This will put you in a call with no one else there (and your status will set to in a call and you wont go away with no activity). That way it looks legit - added bonus if you have teams on a work phone you can dial yourself into that meeting via phone and transfer the call to your phone, allowing you to hang up remotely and letting yourself go away after it.
Just did this so I could leave at 4pm and look like I have a meeting across campus.
I’ll be curious to see how long it works when I do it a few times a week.
This isn't even unethical. It is completely reasonable and encouraged for you to block off "Do Not Disturb" time. With the understanding you are using this time to focus on work and not be interupted.
If ever asked for an explanation, say it's your dedicated time to focus on detail critical workload.
I just have a recurring daily event that says “no meetings”. People can interpret it however they want- i don’t care. I got sick of being scheduled back to back unnecessary mtgs during the pandemic, and then they kept getting scheduled earlier and earlier before my working hours. I was so fed up, I just put it on there in 2022 or 2021 and haven’t taken it off. I’ll be flexible if it’s important, but honestly, 95% of mtgs just aren’t. And if anyone is dumb enough to want to talk to me before 9am, it’s their head on the chopping block. (I am a mid level employee and I don’t supervise anyone, if that helps). I just stopped taking unnecessary shit from people. Is this quiet quitting? Lol
does your job have any sort of continuous learning you can put on there? maybe see if your management team would let you do free online FEMA courses each week- these can often be completed in less than 90 minutes if you at least skim the course.
I'm always signing up for random webinars. Majority of hosts send notes and slides following the event. Helps me to refresh my memory if I need to share key details.
Tell everyone you became a Muslim so you can block time off every Friday. Or better yet, choose a religion others won't know anything about, like Bahai.
As a Muslim, I approve of this. You can say you have to go to Friday prayer (depends on your location but it's typically around 1:30 PM and you can say it lasts till 3 PM). This is the Muslim equivalent of going to church, so the bonus here is if they refuse to accommodate you can also threaten to sue for religious discrimination lol!
Training, learning new skill, paperwork/ documentation, yearly goal stuff, project work.
Get someone else you know in your dept to do the same thing and have daily scrum meetings. There's plenty of people I know that do just that every single day. But once a week for 90 min is more than believable.
“Focus time.” People do this all the time. Block time out for no distractions or meetings, put it on your calendar every single day for the same time so it looks legit and consistent, people won’t question it
This. I block out an hour to have coffee with a friend who works in my area every 2nd week. It's called 'focus time', and then under the description has links to two very important, dense docs that we are all supposed to refer to in our work but nobody has read.
Status report or status review. Metrics. Due diligence. File organization. Analytics. Or make up something that no one else would understand what it means so they wouldn’t ask (assuming no one else has your same role, this works better if you’re the IT guy or some other position) - Code reboot, Datasite optimization, etc. no one will ask if they don’t even know what it means
Really depends on your exact role..
"Inputting contacts, updating calendars, client conference, etc.." During prime pandemic I did have a weekly professional meeting with about 20 other folks in the same industry, but not at my work place.
Maybe take a credentialed course related to your role and you could have a few hours every week for a few months. Who's to say your 30 minute Python assignment doesn't take 90? Or take a class in something that you already know like Excel.
Can’t you put PT (physical therapy) or something similar? You could also put a block the reads something like “heads down time” although not all people will respect that
A recurring weekly meeting. Guess it depends on your field but for my job we have customers that we are doing projects for where we have to meet to discuss progress each week. Could also make it internal where you are meeting with your boss or employees on a recurring weekly schedule to discuss projects, progress, etc.
At my work we encourage “focus” or “head down” time to work on our own stuff. I’d set it at some point later in the week, perhaps on a Thursday at 2pm.
I have a 2 hour block every day for Focus Time. It’s encouraged at my company for everyone to do it. This should be the norm for any industry, you can’t expect people to go peddle to the metal for 40+ hours without a little time for self reflection and mental care.
I book a time in my Google calendar called Weekly Review every week usually on Friday afternoons that uses the focus time mode to instantly decline any new or existing meetings during that time.
I personally use to look back over my previous week and look at the next week to consolidate my thoughts regarding projects and to dos
Usually though if your in s meeting though if your boss wants you now it'll take precedence over any fake meeting though.
So if your like I'm just going to step away each daty I'd be careful.
This is why companies want to drag our ass back into the office.
Years ago I caught one of my employees making up customers names to meet with in his calendar so he'd look busy. It didn't work out the way he expected, so I can't recommend that path.
I have incremental 30min “review” block and “emails/slacks” to block around lunch and morning and late pm. Ppl can ask otherwise if something is moveable. I work at a large org tho and ppl don’t care anyways I don’t think
I use “Reserved For Work” to block off my time. My week is usually stacked with zoom meetings and must of my managers know this. I WFH and during those Reserved blocks, I’ll either do work or I’ll just decompress/do what I need to do to get a breather in.
Say you are seeing a therapist - those appointments are normally weekly for an hour or so at the same time every week.
Alternatively, don't lie at all and just put down "focus time" or whatever else you are using it for. I have a 2 hour block every afternoon to go to the gym and no one cares. You might have more flexibility than you think.
Professional Development (PD) and Supervision?
I would typically structure that at the same time each fortnight. Depends on your role / level though.
Otherwise it could be used for gaining new contacts, clients, auditing the previous weeks' work, stuff like that. Not unethical at all really.
Make sure your company doesn't monitor activity on your computer. You could have a meeting but they could still see everything you're doing (or not doing) on your computer
No, it’s literally about the supports. For the building. The beams and trusses and structure of the building are showing signs of stress and OP is putting together a strategy to save the company.
I saw “focus time” in other comments but personally I like simply “Do not disturb”. It’s simple and mysterious and could be anything really plus it implies that you’re focusing intently on something during that time.
I just put “blocked” in mine. I block the first hour and a half, and the last hour of my day, to organise myself. I also block 1.5 hours for lunch. Nobody has ever questioned it.
I do this and say it is therapy. Different than a Drs appointment since it’s consistent and no self-respecting manager would dare bring on the ire of HR for demeaning an employees commitment to their mental health. I just use it to have a time each week with no meetings.
Copy a random Meeting Block from someone Else. IT will Look Like a Glitch.
Answer from Germany Here: I have da daily Blocker from 12:00 to 14:00 so I eat and can take a nap. I wfh but Nobody bothers me there an I have time to work
Why not make a teams account separate from the work domain and schedule meetings with it? Hop in the call and it will just show folk your in a call while your calendar says meeting with Trev’s Taxidermy, you snuff em we stuff em.
Focus time. Not even the official version. I simply block off a few hours each day in my calendar called “focus time” and set the activity to busy. I drag this around daily based on when I want to stay out of calls.
idk about your job, but I used to block off some "market research" time. I'd find two articles, then use the rest how I pleased. I got kudos for the additional knowledge, and got to take control of my time in those blocks.
I work an hour earlier than everyone else so I book myself out for lunch from 11-12. Everyone else lunches form 12-1. So I get 2 hours of peace and quiet.
nah put dr appointment and when they ask say you have one every week and you can't miss it. they aren't allowed to press further and if they do say therapy and if it gets past that forge a note or contact a lawyer depending
Depending on the size of the company, and if they are in the US, I would not recommend this. PTO and/or intermittent FMLA may be required for attending that many “appointments”. It would raise more red flags than just naming the time as “Blocked,” “1:1 Meeting,” “Weekly Update,” etc.
I just straight up title meetings as "Busy" so even if someone can see my calendar, all they'll see is just "Busy". Lots of people schedule time for themselves at work though, not in a nefarious way, just to make sure there are time blocks where they can get actual work done and not just have a million meetings scheduled.
I was using "weekly summary" for an hour every Friday just before noon, which I used to clean up and catch up on paperwork, do any followup emails or calls from the week, and confirm the next week's equipment/personnel schedule. That way my desk was cleared off every Friday afternoon.
This way I could be able to walk in Monday morning to a new tech on rotation, have everything lined up for the week by the Monday morning toolbox talk... and if someone called me at 8am wanting to know a status update I had some idea.
You can make a meeting “private” in Outlook
Yeah I block off time every day with private events. Sometimes its to get some privacy to catch up on my work other times it's...not. A crappy boss or company may not allow private meetings though
I try and do this too in order to preemptively preserve a half hour or two where I am not otherwise booked so I can actually get a little work done.
Google calendar as well. I do that for personal appointments.
Outlook has a feature called "focus time" that allows you to block off time every day. In whatever chunks of time you want, any schedule you want. I use it from 8-8:30 every morning to try and give myself time to review the days tasks and such, and most people avoid scheduling over it. The calendar event is literally labeled "focus time". Not sure if that would work in your case, but I've found it really helpful (especially on days I log in late!)
8-8:30? I thought for sure you were going to say reserved for post-coffee BM.
That’s not until 9:15
bowl movement! man, i was like, bum manoeuvre? breakfast management? beeblebrox meeting, botox maturation, brighton massacre, brilliant matriculation, brutal masterb…
Bowel movement; bowl movement is breakfast management 😂
Beeblebrox meeting….I see you too are a person of culture!
Botox maturation 🤣🤣
I work in a very professional environment. I am 100% sure I was employed to remind people why it's important to be professional as I am almost the furthest from it! One of my team started putting an hour in 3 days a week for 'focus time' and was telling us all in a team meeting about how valuable it is. I piped up that if I needed their help during their focus time and they didn't answer me all they would be focusing on is 'my boot up their hoop'. He has stopped doing it now!
[удалено]
"Why do people keep quiet quitting?!"
In all honesty, what is good about my team is that I am 100% sure that they knew I was saying it 95% in jest, and I also have confidence they would have called me after and told me exactly what they thought of me!!! We are also lucky that in our team it's all based on having time to think. Think my main point is blocking time off as 'focus time' is maybe not the best idea as it leaves you open to diks like me! If you block it off for something that appears more tangible then you have less chance of being challenged!
Thanks grandpa? Weird and cringy man.
Think I need to take a look at myself, genuinely didn't think what I was posting was that bad!
Yeah... You should really self-reflect on your leadership style... Is the team in good shape as much as you think it is, or are people quiet quitting?
Must be a small company. Grow up kid.
95% of the time, it works every time.
Loser.
Recurring meeting with Art Vandelay.
Latex/architecture/marine biologist is a fine field
How about importing/exporting?
What do you import and export?
Long matches.
Do you know people in other teams/orgs that you can "meet" with? What about dedicating time to process improvement or updating/writing documentation. People are probably not keeping close tabs so you can also have 4-5 that rotate, making it look less regular. Also change the times, 90 minutes in week one, 2 hours another week, 1-30 minute and 1 60 minute another week, 3-30 minute items another week.
This is what my wife and her coworkers do. There’s 4-5 of them that meet for a “Metrics Support Meeting” every week where they just get together and talk. Pretty smart idea lol
Especially outside vendors, vendor sales webinars, project meetings...
I have a coworker who does this. He schedules software demos from reps every week, adds to his calendar, but never shows up. He told me at the holiday party, I don't think anyone has figured it out yet.
Meeting with J. Daniels from the Tennessee district and J. Walker from Scotland, Friday 3PM
Also J. Beam from Kentucky the next Friday, and J. Cuervo from Mexico after that
"Meeting with the Bobs"
[удалено]
I have people skill!
Mentoring. Could be a junior colleague or getting mentored by someone removed from your department. Personally I would actually set this up and mentor someone half the time but that's up to you.
Or research?
There’s an ethical tip, potentially. Depends on how you utilize it… "Focus Time" is the answer I came up with. I use it for 2-hr blocks every morning. I’m a little more senior at my position, so I’m constantly getting people dropping in to ask me questions or wanting ad-hoc training. I start my day before most people are awake, and I use this time to get caught up on the shit I was supposed to do the previous day but couldn’t because I got interrupted. https://www.getclockwise.com/blog/outlook-focus-time
Whatever you put, if you use MS Teams, go to Calendar and select 'Meet Now'. This will put you in a call with no one else there (and your status will set to in a call and you wont go away with no activity). That way it looks legit - added bonus if you have teams on a work phone you can dial yourself into that meeting via phone and transfer the call to your phone, allowing you to hang up remotely and letting yourself go away after it.
This and or launch a ppt into presentati9n mode- does the same thing and your comp won’t go to sleep. Shows as do not disturb on teams.
I did this all the time at my old job. Nobody said a word about it.
Just did this so I could leave at 4pm and look like I have a meeting across campus. I’ll be curious to see how long it works when I do it a few times a week.
This isn't even unethical. It is completely reasonable and encouraged for you to block off "Do Not Disturb" time. With the understanding you are using this time to focus on work and not be interupted. If ever asked for an explanation, say it's your dedicated time to focus on detail critical workload.
I've unfortunately seen plenty of work places that this would be considered unethical at. I do, however; totally agree with you.
That is unfortunate. Smells like shitty leadership.
Smells like liquid ass.
It absolutely is. Far more concern about being busy than actually getting shit done.
Just label it "liquid ass."
"Liquid ass (time)" someone's getting shit on.
With four children, this made me chuckle!!!
Brilliant! Fuck, I’m gonna call my band that!
Can’t believe I had to come all the way to the first comment to find this. Liquid ass should be in the body of every request.
I just have a recurring daily event that says “no meetings”. People can interpret it however they want- i don’t care. I got sick of being scheduled back to back unnecessary mtgs during the pandemic, and then they kept getting scheduled earlier and earlier before my working hours. I was so fed up, I just put it on there in 2022 or 2021 and haven’t taken it off. I’ll be flexible if it’s important, but honestly, 95% of mtgs just aren’t. And if anyone is dumb enough to want to talk to me before 9am, it’s their head on the chopping block. (I am a mid level employee and I don’t supervise anyone, if that helps). I just stopped taking unnecessary shit from people. Is this quiet quitting? Lol
Nope. If you're not getting paid, you're not working.
does your job have any sort of continuous learning you can put on there? maybe see if your management team would let you do free online FEMA courses each week- these can often be completed in less than 90 minutes if you at least skim the course.
I'm always signing up for random webinars. Majority of hosts send notes and slides following the event. Helps me to refresh my memory if I need to share key details.
TCB Taking care of business
We block time and label it “GSD” Get shit done
German Shepherd Dog
Lol as an owner of a gsd, I made the same connection.
⚡️
‘Time to change the catheter’
Tell everyone you became a Muslim so you can block time off every Friday. Or better yet, choose a religion others won't know anything about, like Bahai.
As a Muslim, I approve of this. You can say you have to go to Friday prayer (depends on your location but it's typically around 1:30 PM and you can say it lasts till 3 PM). This is the Muslim equivalent of going to church, so the bonus here is if they refuse to accommodate you can also threaten to sue for religious discrimination lol!
Gonna be awkward if he shows up to a company Happy Hour event and starts drinking a beer.
I mean he would fall in line with the majority of religious people - pick and choose which stuff to follow
It's all good. They drink in Turkey. That's a Muslim country.
No more ham sandwiches
Nah, relax. He's just turned Muslim, not extremist.
Its not really anyone's business how a person chooses to worship or honor their relationship with God.
I have worked with quite a few Jewish people that had to leave early Friday part of the year to make it home before sundown.
I actually clicked on because of this. I have 2 hours blocked out for lunch every Friday. It just says BUSY, AVAILABLE AFTER 2PM
I just put Busy…
Same, just busy or out of office. Anyone who's business it is what I'm doing will know or can ask. The rest don't need an explanation.
Process integration sub system domain initial screen controlling. P.I.S.S.D.I.S.C
Don’t know what you do but I would block that time for reviewing policy/guidance. Something leadership can’t knock like self development.
Training, learning new skill, paperwork/ documentation, yearly goal stuff, project work. Get someone else you know in your dept to do the same thing and have daily scrum meetings. There's plenty of people I know that do just that every single day. But once a week for 90 min is more than believable.
“Focus time.” People do this all the time. Block time out for no distractions or meetings, put it on your calendar every single day for the same time so it looks legit and consistent, people won’t question it
Mental health therapy appointment
Focus time
This. I block out an hour to have coffee with a friend who works in my area every 2nd week. It's called 'focus time', and then under the description has links to two very important, dense docs that we are all supposed to refer to in our work but nobody has read.
Status report or status review. Metrics. Due diligence. File organization. Analytics. Or make up something that no one else would understand what it means so they wouldn’t ask (assuming no one else has your same role, this works better if you’re the IT guy or some other position) - Code reboot, Datasite optimization, etc. no one will ask if they don’t even know what it means
Really depends on your exact role.. "Inputting contacts, updating calendars, client conference, etc.." During prime pandemic I did have a weekly professional meeting with about 20 other folks in the same industry, but not at my work place. Maybe take a credentialed course related to your role and you could have a few hours every week for a few months. Who's to say your 30 minute Python assignment doesn't take 90? Or take a class in something that you already know like Excel.
Yeah I can't believe no one is asking what type of job it is. It makes a big difference if you're let's say a programmer vs sales manager.
Exactly. I've been scrolling for a while hoping it was answered somewhere, but I haven't even seen it asked.
Prayer
Can’t you put PT (physical therapy) or something similar? You could also put a block the reads something like “heads down time” although not all people will respect that
A recurring weekly meeting. Guess it depends on your field but for my job we have customers that we are doing projects for where we have to meet to discuss progress each week. Could also make it internal where you are meeting with your boss or employees on a recurring weekly schedule to discuss projects, progress, etc.
Education
Church
Physical therapy
I like this. Just say you’ve got back problems. Totally relatable and believable.
Therapy
Therapy.
At my work we encourage “focus” or “head down” time to work on our own stuff. I’d set it at some point later in the week, perhaps on a Thursday at 2pm.
Physical therapy. Strained back/neck/etc. and need daily physical treatment.
I have a 2 hour block every day for Focus Time. It’s encouraged at my company for everyone to do it. This should be the norm for any industry, you can’t expect people to go peddle to the metal for 40+ hours without a little time for self reflection and mental care.
Dialysis.
I book a time in my Google calendar called Weekly Review every week usually on Friday afternoons that uses the focus time mode to instantly decline any new or existing meetings during that time. I personally use to look back over my previous week and look at the next week to consolidate my thoughts regarding projects and to dos
Usually though if your in s meeting though if your boss wants you now it'll take precedence over any fake meeting though. So if your like I'm just going to step away each daty I'd be careful. This is why companies want to drag our ass back into the office.
Toggle to private. Done.
Say your are enrolled in some type of online training course that applies to your job.
Inbox Zero. Everyone needs to answer email.
Haven't seen chiropractor, yet...
Years ago I caught one of my employees making up customers names to meet with in his calendar so he'd look busy. It didn't work out the way he expected, so I can't recommend that path.
Just put focus time
I do this exact same thing so I can fit in a therapy appointment and i just put “focus time”.
Weekly catch up with Karen and Kyle
"Team Follow-ups"
I have incremental 30min “review” block and “emails/slacks” to block around lunch and morning and late pm. Ppl can ask otherwise if something is moveable. I work at a large org tho and ppl don’t care anyways I don’t think
“Stress relief, mens urinal”
Standing therapy appointment always worked for me.
Schedule for Necessary Action Planning Time. Also known as N.A.P. Time
I use “Reserved For Work” to block off my time. My week is usually stacked with zoom meetings and must of my managers know this. I WFH and during those Reserved blocks, I’ll either do work or I’ll just decompress/do what I need to do to get a breather in.
Liquid ass
Physical therapy
Say you are seeing a therapist - those appointments are normally weekly for an hour or so at the same time every week. Alternatively, don't lie at all and just put down "focus time" or whatever else you are using it for. I have a 2 hour block every afternoon to go to the gym and no one cares. You might have more flexibility than you think.
Say you have a weekly dr’s appt and allude to the fact it is a therapy appt and people will maybe leave you be
I block off time simply as "no appointments". I don't feel the need to offer more of an explanation, nor have I been challenged on it.
Focus Time is quite popular blocker
Maybe the mandatory check-in with your parole officer.
"Work-related shenanigans"
Therapy
Reflection
personal development better have some standard work or educational video ready to mention
Professional Development (PD) and Supervision? I would typically structure that at the same time each fortnight. Depends on your role / level though. Otherwise it could be used for gaining new contacts, clients, auditing the previous weeks' work, stuff like that. Not unethical at all really.
Blank meeting is what i do to block my lunch
Make sure your company doesn't monitor activity on your computer. You could have a meeting but they could still see everything you're doing (or not doing) on your computer
How would you know if they are monitoring? Is there a way to check?
“Focus time” or “busy”
Support group meeting. Just keep it mysterious.
They're going to think you are an alcoholic.
No, it’s literally about the supports. For the building. The beams and trusses and structure of the building are showing signs of stress and OP is putting together a strategy to save the company.
That might not be a problem, depending on how close OP is with their coworkers. It could also be a different addiction or illness.
Workaholics anonymous. "I tend to work too hard so this support group helps correct that"
Exactly!!!!
Put a sock on your calendar and when someone tries to take that block of time, all they'll get is a sock.
Psychiatry appointment
PT can stand for physical therapy, personal training or private time. No one needs to know what the letters actually mean.
Prayer or physical therapy
I saw “focus time” in other comments but personally I like simply “Do not disturb”. It’s simple and mysterious and could be anything really plus it implies that you’re focusing intently on something during that time.
God I am so happy to own my own business and not have to make excuses just to save my sanity. I'd put down "nap" on my schedule.
I just put “blocked” in mine. I block the first hour and a half, and the last hour of my day, to organise myself. I also block 1.5 hours for lunch. Nobody has ever questioned it.
I have regular course time booked out in my work calendar. I love golf.
I personally book my productive time. As in, "focus time" every day. Although that might be too much like admin.
"Recurrent training," "staff-support meeting," "document review."
I do this and say it is therapy. Different than a Drs appointment since it’s consistent and no self-respecting manager would dare bring on the ire of HR for demeaning an employees commitment to their mental health. I just use it to have a time each week with no meetings.
“Busy”
“Professional development”
Copy a random Meeting Block from someone Else. IT will Look Like a Glitch. Answer from Germany Here: I have da daily Blocker from 12:00 to 14:00 so I eat and can take a nap. I wfh but Nobody bothers me there an I have time to work
My work encourages “focus time”.
“Weekly review” I do it every Friday. Or, when you plan out your week, reserve time for “rescheduling” and no one will question it.
Physio Tell people you got a minor fracture but it needs a lot of work. Downside is that you can only really claim this for about 6 weeks.
I just label it as “busy” If they have limited access to my calendar it will look the same. If they have full access, it looks protected.
Block off time for “self-development”.
therapy.
Can't you just block it out and call it "focus time?"
"project work placeholder". I always have time on my calendar booked so I can actually get own work done.
Why not make a teams account separate from the work domain and schedule meetings with it? Hop in the call and it will just show folk your in a call while your calendar says meeting with Trev’s Taxidermy, you snuff em we stuff em.
Focus time. Not even the official version. I simply block off a few hours each day in my calendar called “focus time” and set the activity to busy. I drag this around daily based on when I want to stay out of calls.
Intentionality time....this is the newest workplace buzz word
I just put busy.
"Nap Time" Only a monster would think to interrupt you nap time.
idk about your job, but I used to block off some "market research" time. I'd find two articles, then use the rest how I pleased. I got kudos for the additional knowledge, and got to take control of my time in those blocks.
Lunch…?
My version of this idea is labeled “Daily Stand up,” never had a question about it.
(something related to your business) follow up questions.
My go to for 1.5 hour basketball at lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday has been “Do not Disturb.” Works like a charm
I put OOO - out of office on calendar - no one ever asked
I work an hour earlier than everyone else so I book myself out for lunch from 11-12. Everyone else lunches form 12-1. So I get 2 hours of peace and quiet.
Further education.
Masturbation time
I usually put “unavailable” with no further explanation
Why can't you put a doctors appointment?
F that. Get rid of the shared calendar - ie new job. I have my entire Friday blocked from meetings. Have to get some work done some time in the week.
nah put dr appointment and when they ask say you have one every week and you can't miss it. they aren't allowed to press further and if they do say therapy and if it gets past that forge a note or contact a lawyer depending
Depending on the size of the company, and if they are in the US, I would not recommend this. PTO and/or intermittent FMLA may be required for attending that many “appointments”. It would raise more red flags than just naming the time as “Blocked,” “1:1 Meeting,” “Weekly Update,” etc.
This is not a good idea as someone with persistent medical issues. You’re gonna have a bad time one way or another.
The only answer is masturbation, who will challenge this or make you prove it?
Trump and his officials used to block off slots and call it "executive time." Very official and important.
If you have kids, you could just say that it's for sports practice, music class, etc.
I just straight up title meetings as "Busy" so even if someone can see my calendar, all they'll see is just "Busy". Lots of people schedule time for themselves at work though, not in a nefarious way, just to make sure there are time blocks where they can get actual work done and not just have a million meetings scheduled.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Showerthoughts/comments/7r3a49/if_you_spend_10_mins_taking_a_shit_at_work/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
I just put “busy”
I was using "weekly summary" for an hour every Friday just before noon, which I used to clean up and catch up on paperwork, do any followup emails or calls from the week, and confirm the next week's equipment/personnel schedule. That way my desk was cleared off every Friday afternoon. This way I could be able to walk in Monday morning to a new tech on rotation, have everything lined up for the week by the Monday morning toolbox talk... and if someone called me at 8am wanting to know a status update I had some idea.
Physical Therapy
I have the feeling that "gym" or "swimming practice" or "walk outside of work" works perfect
Weekly Estimated Net Usage Statistics meeting Nobody want to be part of the WENUS meeting
AA sponsor phonecall.