Time waits for no man, but it can if you know how to plan

5 ways to build in more time for yourself:

• Make people aware that you are going to give yourself quiet time – or a ‘power hour’ – every day. Try to keep it to the same time: first thing is probably the best

• Break your day down into ‘red’ and ‘green’ time. During red time, you can’t be disturbed and won’t take any interruptions. Green time is when you can be approached and will interact with the team

• If you still need uninterrupted time, say ‘I’m really involved in this right now; I’ll find you when I have a minute’

• Tell your team what they can do to make the project run more smoothly; for example, get everyone reading and dealing with outstanding emails first thing in the morning and last thing in the afternoon only, unless urgent communication comes through between times

• Divert your phone or switch it to voicemail

5 tips for fielding meetings:

• Arrange for your involvement in a meeting to come up front – then leave when your part is over

• Request that all meetings having an itemised agenda, with time slots for each

• Give people who are late for meetings jobs to do, such as taking minutes (see how this encourages everyone to be on time)

• Hold some meetings standing up – these tend to be remarkably brief as people are not comfortable enough to waste time

• Rotate the chairing of meetings so you don’t always have to be in the hot seat