Most mid-level managers spend 60-70% of their week in meetings. Half of those could be a Slack message. A third exist because someone didn't trust their team enough to skip the check-in.

Here's a quick filter I use with every manager I work with:

1. The "status update" meeting — If everyone's just reading updates aloud, replace it with an async doc. You'll save 30-60 min/week instantly.

2. The "just in case" meeting — The recurring 1:1 where nothing's on the agenda but nobody cancels it. Make a rule: no agenda items 2 hours before = auto-cancel. Your team will thank you.

3. The "alignment" meeting — Usually means someone hasn't made a decision. Make the decision async, share context in writing, and only meet if there's genuine disagreement.

This alone won't fix burnout. But reclaiming 3-4 hours per week creates space to actually lead instead of just administrate.

I share frameworks like this every week inside the Anti-Burnout Leadership Toolkit — practical tools for managers who want to lead without running on empty.