Want to future-proof your job? Start protecting your focus time

The next big meeting on your calendar might not have any other attendees—it might just be you. A growing number of high-performing leaders, including managers at Google and other Fortune 100 companies, are carving out protected “focus blocks” and treating them like mission-critical meetings.

With constant pings, shallow tasks, and back-to-back calls, this might be the only way to produce strategic, high-value work. Google and Microsoft have even rolled out Focus Time features that automatically block off calendars to protect deep work.

Paige Donahue is a product marketing leader at Google who helps YouTube creators grow their communities and monetize their followings. She says she’s started using the Focus Time feature inside Google Calendar to carve out protected blocks for deep work. “