My 'silent alarm' hack for deep work accidentally turned me into a meeting escape artist

I set a vibrating fitness tracker to go off every 25 minutes to prompt a micro-break, but started using it as a fake 'urgent call' excuse to leave bloated brainstorming sessions. (The guilt peaked when a colleague asked if my phone needed exorcising, but my calendar has never been so clear.)

4 comments

4 Comments

matthew_jackson152h ago

Your hack reveals how many meetings operate on theater rather than necessity. One could escalate this with physical props: a dedicated, always-empty water bottle for frequent 'refill' breaks, or a single wireless earbud to stage a 'poor connection' crisis. The goal is crafting exits that appear as minor nuisances to others but are deliberate reclaimations of your own time. It's a quiet rebellion against the performative busyness that fills modern calendars.

sandra_knight2h ago

Actually @matthew_jackson15, one earbud looks more suspicious than two!

brian8542h ago

My fake calls are so obvious, I'm surprised no one's offered tech support.

flores.leo2h ago

The real power move is when your fake call is so believable that people start adjusting meetings to avoid interrupting you. It turns the performance back on them, making your time appear more valuable without saying a word.