You can teach others how to respect your timePublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now-- Somehow, were (almost) halfway through JanuaryIssue #246: making a mobile game, empathy v. accountability, and a procrastination tipA few of my coworkers do this chaotic thing at the beginning of the year: They delete every recurring meeting and repopulate their calendars gradually, only reinstating what they actually need.Investor Hunter Walk tried an extreme version of this in 2020 he razed every single thing on his calendar, went full scorched-earth with his obligations, and asked himself: What do I really care about? It was his way to reassess his time, sure, but also an attempt to save money. A few years ago, Shopify created a meeting cost calculator that adds every attendees hourly compensation and multiplies it by a meetings length. This is very handwavey, but according to this calculator, the average 30-minute meeting between three people costs between $700 and $1,600 (if theres an exec in the meeting, its cost balloons to at least $2K).That investment can be worth it, of course! But as product leader Julia Harrison writes, a meeting is most useful if it has a goal and if everyone in the meeting is necessary to reach that goal. You know the meetings over not when the clock tells you so, but when youve reached it.Your goal doesnt need to be a doc or a Gantt chart, either. It can just be a feeling. Former Microsoft VP Steven Sinofsky, who led the Windows and Office teams in the 90s and aughts, writes: The best meetings I remember are the ones where our team got a little closer and more connected and I remember that feeling more than I remember the specifics of what we talked about.Either way, if youre not essential to whatever a meeting is trying to accomplish, you can not go! (Its so hard for me to say no to things, but Im really trying to do this more in 2025.) Guard your calendar like its your wallet, writes executive recruiter Brian Fink. The uncomfortable truth, he explains, is that people will treat you the way you treat yourself and theyll only value your time as much (or as little) as you value it. Harris SockelWere also readingSoftware engineer Anastasia Laczko spent two years building a new match-three mobile game that lets you create delicious animated sandwiches. She learned (a) you must ruthlessly cut scope wherever possible (her original idea was a multiplayer game, but that proved way too ambitious), and (b) theres nothing as satisfying as seeing your friends and family fall in love with whatever youve created (her mom adores the game!).Technical team lead Victoria Corindi: Empathy without accountability is enabling. Accountability without empathy is cruelty. The real challenge is finding the balance between the two.In the 1940s, a married team of psychologists found that, regardless of their race, children between ages 3 and 7 felt more positively about white dolls than dolls of color (i.e. they were more likely to label white dolls nice or beautiful). Reflecting on that study and her own experience growing up without seeing herself in most of the dolls around her, writer Osi I. gifts every child in her daughters class a Black doll, writing: the gift was simply a very small gesture of exposure that may subtly heighten their consciousness, increase their understanding of and connection to others and help them celebrate the ways in which we are all beautifully human.Your daily dose of practical wisdomIf youre procrastinating, its probably because you dont want to lose something in exchange for moving forward. (Bruno Guardia)