Hi Friends,
I accidentally geo-arbitraged this week’s record-breaking heat wave by spending time with family on the West Coast — I hope you’re hanging in there if it’s moving through your neck of the woods!
In Free Time, one of the first quick wins I offer readers is to set their time free before “earning” it by setting weekly, monthly, and annual recurring Do Not Schedule (DNS) blocks. You don’t get free time when your schedule just-so-happens-to miraculously clear for one random, glorious stretch; you get it by designing it from the start.
Continuing on last week’s theme, the most effective way to take a break, let’s take some inspo from one of my corporate licensing clients based in Europe. The entire organization (nearly forty thousand people) takes all of August off. Everyone. Every summer. Every email is met with an autoresponder. They don’t even sneak replies during their vacation as their nervous American counterparts do (while out only for a week); they simply don’t reply until September.
Nothing motivates me to revisit and improve my own scheduling rules more than sticky-hot, humid summer days. The last thing I want in those months is to be sitting indoors, in front of the computer all day.
Back when I was podcasting, I remember in late summer dreading seeing an afternoon recording slot on that day’s schedule. I’d sit at the mic with sweat dripping down my face (thank goodness I rarely recorded with video on) as the sun moved across the South-facing windows in my office. I couldn’t turn on the A/C (not that the clunky old unit even worked) because I didn’t want background noise interfering.
So after suffering through a few years of this, in addition to my usual no-meeting Monday and Friday blocks, I set an annual reminder for myself to recur every Spring:
✅ Update Calendly to block afternoon scheduling for summer!!!
For years now, in addition to my ongoing free-time Mondays and Fridays, most of August is also blocked off entirely, as well as the days before and after major holidays, except for recurring coaching clients and exceptions when trying to land a speaking gig or two.
💬 How about you?
What recurring scheduling parameters do you set up for the summer months? How do they differ from the rest of the year? What are your favorite summer activities when you’re not at the computer?? Let us know in the comments:
🎧 Related Free Time Episode
📆 Upcoming Events
Our twice-monthly AI-focused office hours for paid subscribers are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month — I would love for you to join us! Note: they are not recorded, since everything changes so quickly! We do share detailed notes and resources in Substack chat afterward.
🍩 Related Read at Rolling in Doh
📝 Permission from Last Week
If you haven’t already, you hereby have permission to block out several weeks for intentional breaks between now and September!
🎉 Thank you for reading, and I’m wishing you those of you who are stateside a wonderful Fourth of July Weekend! 🇺🇸
