Defaulting to No for unscheduled calls protects deep work

“Do you have time for a quick call?” No. It’s never quick. It’s not you, it’s me. The thing that slows me down the most is giving away my time and shattering my focus. To protect my work/family balance and deep work, I don’t do unscheduled calls. If you’re not a paying client, we likely won’t talk on the phone. Godspeed.

The hidden cost of “quick calls”:

• Context switching: Takes 15-20 minutes to regain deep focus after an interruption
• Anticipation anxiety: Even scheduled interruptions create mental overhead before they happen
• Scope creep: “Quick” calls regularly expand into longer discussions
• Precedent setting: Saying yes once creates expectation for future availability

This connects to Externalizing thought builds a cognitive scaffold for solving complex problems. Deep work requires sustained mental effort to build and maintain complex thinking structures. Interruptions collapse these structures.

Alternative approaches:

• Async communication: Most “urgent” conversations can happen via text/email
• Scheduled blocks: Batch communication into specific time periods
• Clear boundaries: Communicate availability expectations upfront
• Emergency protocols: Define what actually constitutes an emergency worth interrupting for

The paradox: protecting your time makes you more valuable to the people who matter most. Better to do fewer things excellently than many things poorly.

This is why A sufficiently intelligent router eliminates the need for traditional project management. When information flows automatically, you don’t need as many “coordination” calls.