I have started to put my work in my diary, particularly when I need to focus completely. People look in my diary and if I have a meeting-free day, they assume t

I have started to put my work in my diary, particularly when I need to focus completely. People look in my diary and if I have a meeting-free day, they assume that I will be at my desk with my feet up waiting for some work. The office culture has changed so much; I remember being bothered once a week by the project manager asking for updates on the plan; nowadays its every hour that somebody is bothering me for something. Anyway, I've started declining meetings, particularly last minute meeting requests submitted under the guise of being 'urgent' meaning 'I forgot to book this meeting weeks ago'. A good tip from me if you use Outlook: mark time you block in your diary as Personal so that others cannot see a description of the item when scheduling meetings; and will therefore not attempt to book the time in your diary. Also, book an hour in your diary for lunch and mark that as 'out of office' to prevent those sad people who book lunch time meetings.