When to use this prompt
When you look at next week and feel a familiar dread about how little real work is going to fit between meetings. Or quarterly, as a forcing function to reclaim focus time before it leaks away again. Or after a role change when your calendar is still optimized for the old role’s meeting load.
The output is a triage list: this meeting goes, this one shrinks to 25 minutes, this one batches with that one, this one becomes a Loom recording. It’s deliberately opinionated because vague calendar audits produce vague calendars.
The prompt
<role>Operations specialist who audits executive calendars and reclaims focus time without breaking working relationships.</role>
<task>Triage the meeting list below. For each meeting, classify it (keep, decline, batch, shorten, async) and explain. End with a focus-time projection if all recommendations are taken.</task>
<inputs>
<meetings>
[FOR EACH MEETING THIS WEEK, PROVIDE:
- Title
- Duration (minutes)
- Frequency (one-time, weekly recurring, etc.)
- Attendees count and any notable ones
- Stated purpose if known]
</meetings>
<role_context>
[1-3 sentences on your role and what kind of work the focus time would protect, e.g., "I run SEO and GEO; the focus blocks are for client deliverables and original analysis."]
</role_context>
<non_negotiables>
[2-5 meetings that must stay regardless of analysis, e.g., "1:1 with my manager", "Direct report 1:1s"]
</non_negotiables>
<minimum_focus_block>[OPTIONAL: minutes you need for a focus block to be useful; defaults to 90]</minimum_focus_block>
</inputs>
<scale>
- KEEP: meeting is high-leverage and the format is right. No change.
- DECLINE: not your seat at the table. Decline gracefully or send a delegate.
- BATCH: combine with another meeting that hits the same audience or topic. Reduces context switching.
- SHORTEN: meeting is doing real work but in too much time. Cut to 25 or 45 minutes.
- ASYNC: replace with a Loom, a doc, or a written status. Same outcome, no calendar block.
</scale>
<instructions>
1. Read all meetings. Classify each on the five-tier scale. Pick exactly one label per meeting.
2. For each meeting, output:
- The classification
- One-sentence reason
- If DECLINE/BATCH/SHORTEN/ASYNC: a specific replacement plan
- If the meeting is in <non_negotiables>, classify it KEEP regardless of analysis.
3. After per-meeting triage, calculate:
- Total meeting minutes this week (current)
- Total meeting minutes if all recommendations taken
- Number of focus blocks ≥ <minimum_focus_block> minutes that open up
4. Identify the single highest-leverage cut: the one change that reclaims the most focus time at the lowest relationship cost.
5. Identify the single riskiest cut: the one that would most likely cause friction if you take it. Note the friction and how to mitigate.
6. Suggest a meeting hygiene rule going forward — one specific rule that would prevent the worst patterns from rebuilding next quarter (e.g., "Decline any 60-min meeting without an agenda 24 hours ahead").
7. Constraints:
- Do not classify a meeting DECLINE/BATCH/SHORTEN/ASYNC without a specific replacement plan. Vague advice is unactionable.
- Do not suggest declining a meeting with an attendee who controls budget or strategy you depend on without flagging the relationship cost.
- Do not invent attendees or details not in <meetings>.
</instructions>
<output_format>
**Per-meeting triage:**
| Meeting | Duration | Frequency | Action | Reason | Replacement plan |
|---------|----------|-----------|--------|--------|------------------|
**Time math:**
- Total meeting minutes this week (current): XXX
- Total if all recommendations taken: XXX
- Minutes reclaimed: XXX
- Number of focus blocks ≥ [minimum] minutes opened: X
**Highest-leverage cut:** [Meeting name] — [why this one is the cleanest win]
**Riskiest cut:** [Meeting name] — [the friction it'll cause, and how to mitigate]
**Suggested hygiene rule:** [One specific, named rule]
</output_format>How it works
The five-tier scale prevents binary thinking. Most calendar audits collapse into “keep this, decline that,” which underperforms because most meetings aren’t bad — they’re just sized wrong, frequency wrong, or in the wrong format. SHORTEN and ASYNC are where the highest-leverage gains hide.
The “specific replacement plan” requirement is the difference between an audit that works and one that doesn’t. “Decline this meeting” is unactionable; “Decline, send weekly written status to the same group, offer 30 min office hours instead” is. The instruction to require a replacement plan keeps the audit honest.
The riskiest-cut callout is the relationship-safety mechanism. Sometimes the highest-leverage cut would also damage a key working relationship. Naming both the highest-leverage cut and the riskiest cut separately lets the user decide which to prioritize — and reminds the user that not every reclaimed hour is worth the cost.
The hygiene rule at the end is the systemic fix. Without it, the audit reclaims time this week but the calendar rebuilds within a quarter. A specific rule (declined meetings without agenda, no recurring meeting without a 90-day review, etc.) prevents the regression.
Example output
Per-meeting triage:
Meeting Dur Freq Action Reason Replacement plan Marketing weekly 60 Weekly SHORTEN 80% of content is async-friendly Cut to 25 min, focus on decisions only; pre-read Loom Cross-functional eng sync 45 Weekly DECLINE No active dependencies this quarter Send delegate; rejoin if a project starts Vendor demo X 30 One-time KEEP Real evaluation; budget owner Keep Brand strategy session 90 One-time KEEP Non-negotiable Keep Director sync 60 Weekly BATCH Same audience as Marketing weekly Move to end of Marketing weekly; combined 45 min Office hours (open) 60 Weekly ASYNC Most questions answered in writing Replace with a weekly Q&A doc; keep optional 30 min monthly call Time math:
- Current: 345 minutes
- If all taken: 130 minutes
- Reclaimed: 215 minutes
- Focus blocks ≥ 90 min opened: 2
Highest-leverage cut: Office hours → async. Saves 60 min/week, no relationship cost (most attendees never showed live).
Riskiest cut: Cross-functional eng sync. Engineering manager may read the decline as “marketing isn’t paying attention.” Mitigate by sending a one-line note explaining and offering ad-hoc support when projects need it.
Suggested hygiene rule: No recurring 60-min meeting survives quarterly review without a documented decision it produced in the last 8 weeks.
Variations
- One-month version: Audit a month of recurring meetings instead of one week. Better for spotting patterns; worse for the immediate reclaim.
- Direct-report mode: Audit a direct report’s calendar (with their permission) and identify which meetings could be removed to free them for IC work.
- Pre-vacation mode: Audit the week before a vacation to identify which meetings to reschedule, delegate, or skip without consequence. Different optimization than a permanent audit.