An Easy Google Calendar Hack to Make you More Productive

I started using this Google Calendar hack a few years back and everyone I was working with directly soon jumped on board.

But… I forgot to tell you!

So if you don’t know, it's time to go to your Google Calendar and hit Settings > Event Settings and choose “Speedy Meetings”.

Why would you want a speedy meeting?

Since the pandemic, many of us work from home, or are in the office on video meetings.

We used to finish a meeting in person, go to the next meeting room via the kitchen for water or the restroom, then settle into the next face-to-face meeting.

Now we click the red button to hang up, click back to our calendar, and join the next call.

Uh… kitchen, restroom, more than 300 steps a day… gone?

What does a speedy meeting do?

The speedy meeting keeps everyone’s awareness on the length of the meeting in their calendar and when it should end. Yes sometimes you “go over” but that time is already allocated for in the half or one hour.

The other thing I hear from clients all the time and experienced myself is:

“If I’m in meetings all day, when do I do my work?!” (especially the 5 actions you just wrote down from the meeting you’re in).

If you have 5–10 minutes after every call you can take action then. Shoot off any email or message follow-ups or schedule a bigger block on your calendar the next day to finish your actions.

Did you know about speedy meetings? Or will you try them?