I’d like to build a new feature into my calendar. Every time I add a meeting or event, I wish it would ask me, “do you need to schedule some time to prepare?”

I’m half joking because I probably don’t need to prepare to go to the gym in the morning.

But while I’ve had others tell me they can’t tell the difference, I feel like I’m 100x more effective when I spend focused time preparing.

If it’s a meeting, I’m asking myself “what do we need to discuss and what do we need to decide?”

If I’m speaking, I’m jotting down the points I want to cover, or writing the speech in long form (rare but if the format demands it, I will).

And for board meetings, there is no way to do them without great preparation.

I can be spontaneous. I can speak without notes. I can do unstructured meetings. And I’m working on getting better at it.

But I think I’ll always feel like I get more out of things when I’m prepared. When I’ve thought through the best way to articulate my ideas. And when I’ve got a checklist of the questions I’m hoping someone else has an answer for.

Do you find that preparation helps you in meetings? Or are you 98% as effective if you wing it?