[imhoguy]

That reminds me http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Maybe there is no need to create fake items. Maybe one should schedule calendar items "Making X", "Implementing Y", "Researching Z"... for own best hours everyday and leave a couple of acceptable gaps for meetings?

[ganoushoreilly]

I actually do this. I usually block out early morning for on hour at start of day for (Assessment and prioritization of projects), then I have one 2 hour block a day (that changes and is already scheduled for the week) thats assigned to dedicated project research. Other users simply see i'm booked during those periods and it makes it easy for me to plan around having a block of time for hard tasks.

No one has complained yet and in fact I even put down lunch breaks in there now to. It's cut down on excess meetings I have to attend and more importantly i'm able to have some control over time with projects where it may take an hour to get really into it.

[blaser-waffle]

I usually just use "Focus" or "Focus on $TOPIC"

Literally just out of a block of "Focus on Design Validation" (currently in a conference call).

But yeah, make appointments for yourself.

[alicorn]

After 6 months of back to back meetings all day long all week I started doing this and it has been a lifesaver.