I started 2025 with a clear intention: a No-Meeting Monday, every single week.
A day to reset, refocus, dive deep into work. Or, more honestly, a day to finally tackle the things I usually avoid. Writing, for example.
Let’s be clear: I love people and I actually enjoy sharing experiences with them. I thrive on connection, on interaction, on the magic that happens in a good meeting. I also wrote a post about the positive aspects of so-called useless meetings.
What I don’t like is not having space for the hard things. The deep, uncomfortable, non-urgent-but-essential kind of work that only happens when you’re not bouncing from one call to the next.
On paper, the idea was brilliant.
I mean.. How could it possibly fail? I’m not an employee. I’m a founder. I own my time.
Right?
Well.
The first cracks appeared quickly.
It started with a few exceptions: “This call can’t wait.” Or “Let’s just move this internal check-in to Monday, just this once”. And with clients, it got trickier. You want to say no. But can you, really?
Oh, and I forgot.. Conferences. Board meetings. Networking events. Things you don’t choose, but that shape your calendar all the same.
I also underestimated was a more fundamental question. What even counts as a “meeting”?
Is a 15-minute alignment with a team member a meeting? A spontaneous check-in? A quick call instead of a three-paragraph email? (Because yes, calls are often better than emails.)
My first attempt at flexibility was to change the concept of meeting.
If it’s less than 15 minutes, it’s not an issue
Then I shift the no-meeting day each week.
Helpful, at first. But over time? Disorienting.
What’s flexible can always be moved, and when everything is movable, nothing is sacred.
So yes, nine months to go. And it’s already harder than expected.
Sometimes I wonder: maybe the people who’ve mastered this no-meeting utopia just don’t like people.
Or they have money to shield them from urgency.
Or maybe they’re not from the legal world, where urgency is the culture.
I honestly don’t know.
But as an old Italian proverb says: “Se sei in ballo, balla”. If you’re on the dance floor, you might as well dance.
Maybe it’ll take me a year.
Maybe more.
But I’m still aiming for it. Not out of rigidity, but out of respect.
Respect for time. For silence. For the uncomfortable tasks.
And, above all, for accountability.
I’m confident the results will come. If not immediately, then eventually.
After all, I’m still the gritty one.
