Story
Nobody remembers why the standing call started.
Ask around a business about any recurring meeting and you'll usually get a shrug and "we've always done it."
That meeting is not free. It's charging you your sharpest hours every single week, and nobody is sending you the invoice.
The Code
Code 3 — Remove All Distractions
Code 3 of 7 · Business Brainwash
You don't have a time problem. You have a subtraction problem.
Less is more. Replace entertainment with edutainment. Fewer nights out, more nights in.
- Subtract before you add.
- Trade entertainment for edutainment.
- Protect the hours where the real work actually happens.
Lessons
Four shifts that make this Code real.
Every meeting needs a decision
If nothing gets decided, it was a document.
No decision on the agenda, no meeting.
Default to async
Most updates don't need everyone in a room.
Write it; meet only when you must debate.
Protect the maker hours
A meeting in the middle destroys the block around it.
Cluster meetings; defend one deep block daily.
Cancel to test
The fastest audit is to skip it once.
Cancel for two weeks and see what actually breaks.
Data
What recurring meetings actually contain.
Illustrative operator view. Break a typical standing meeting into parts and most of it turns out to be information that could have been read.
Illustrative framework — not measured performance.
Strategy
Cancel it and watch
You don't need a policy. Pick the weakest recurring meeting and cancel the next two. Tell people why and what replaces it.
If nothing breaks, you just bought back hours every week for the rest of the year. If something breaks, you learned exactly what it was for.
The focusing question kills the busywork.
Pick your weakest recurring meeting. Cancel the next two. Replace it with a written update.
References
Sources for this article.
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Code 3 · Remove All Distractions
Want the play, not the theory?
You don't have a time problem. You have a subtraction problem. I'll send you the plays behind this Code — the part that turns it into a system.
- The play behind this Code
- How to install it in 90 days
- What to stop doing first
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