Schedule time on your calendar in three- to four-hour blocks and label these blocks as “busy” or even “make time,” and get your work done. If you have to set up a meeting, try to set it up near another natural break in the day, like lunchtime, or at the very end of the day. At Google, there’s a long (and unfortunately, often ignored) tradition of “No-meeting Thursdays”12 in the interest of clearing time to just get work done.
