I stopped keeping an open calendar and started using a "weekly budget" for meetings.

Early on, whenever someone asked, "Do you have 30 minutes to chat?", I looked at my empty calendar and automatically said yes. By Thursday afternoon, my energy was completely depleted, and my core projects hadn't moved an inch.

Now, I give myself a strict budget of 4 external calls per week. Once those slots are filled, the answer is "I'm fully booked this week, let's connect next week."

Saying no to polite, low-priority requests was terrifying at first. But protecting my energy meant I could actually deliver high-quality work for my main clients instead of giving everyone half-baked attention.

How do you protect your deep work time from calendar creep? Do you have a strict boundary that works for you?