[irvingprime]

There are some tricks you can try. But the most important one is to communicate to people that you don't think you're needed in a particular meeting and you're not going to attend.

You might also defer some meetings to your manager. Another trick I've had some success with is saying, "Sorry. I have a deadline and need to focus on meeting it. Could your record the meeting for me?" Usually they do and I watch the recordings late in the day when I'm tired and don't feel like working anyway.

Aside from that, you can and should insist on an uninterrupted block of time every day. Say four hours in the afternoon. Block it off on your calendar so you can have that focus time you wish you had. The hard part is enforcing it.

I've been in meetings with 20 people, where 17 of them never say a word. In those cases, I'm usually one of the silent ones, doing some real work while barely even paying attention to the meeting. Surprisingly, most people understand that and are okay with it. But it's really a last resort.

Good luck. Being in a meeting heavy environment can be stressful. Learn not to be a slave to it without being a grouch about it and people will respect you for having your priorities straight. You'll respect yourself more, too, for drawing boundaries and getting things done.