The Calendar Doesn’t Lie: Why Time Audits Are the Hidden Superpower of High-Level Assistants

One of the delegates on my course last month shared something that stopped the room cold:

Her executive has 42 one-to-one meetings every month.

Let that sink in.

That’s more than two every single working day.

And that’s before you factor in board meetings, team huddles, client briefings, email overload, strategic planning, decision-making, travel time — and let’s be real, basic breathing room.

How is any actual work getting done?

It’s not an isolated story. Calendars don’t implode in one dramatic moment — they fill slowly and silently, one well-intended meeting at a time. What starts as thoughtful communication quickly morphs into a sea of recurring invites and Zoom fatigue. And unless someone takes a step back, audits the flow, and makes bold changes, the result is calendar chaos — and strategic paralysis.

That’s why quarterly calendar audits aren’t a luxury. They’re a leadership essential.

And assistants? You are perfectly placed to lead the charge.

Not just to tidy the diary.

Not just to reclaim a few hours.

But to safeguard time, restore focus, and align effort with impact.

Here’s How to Run a Strategic Calendar Audit

1. Export or map the last three months of the executive’s calendar.

Track everything. Yes, everything. Use clear, meaningful categories to assess each entry:

• Strategic Leadership – vision setting, planning, innovation

• Operational Oversight – project reviews, status updates

• People Management – 1:1s, coaching, performance

• Stakeholder Engagement – clients, board, key partners

• Execution Time – thinking, writing, decision-making

• Admin & Low-Value Meetings – logistics, routine approvals, vague agendas

2. Analyse the data.

What percentage of time is actually being spent in meetings?

How much of it is genuinely high-value?

What’s recurring but not delivering impact?

What could be shortened, delegated, combined, or simply deleted?

3. Compare it against the business priorities.

What are the top three goals for your executive this quarter?

Does their time reflect that focus — or is the calendar working against them?

4. Present a simple, visual report.

No need for spreadsheets of doom. Show the big picture. Use a pie chart or time blocks to highlight the patterns. Include 2–3 key recommendations, such as:

• Consolidating one-to-ones into themed leadership sessions

• Moving operational meetings to a fortnightly cadence

• Delegating updates to direct reports

• Blocking weekly thinking time

5. Have the conversation.

“This is how your time has been spent. Is this how you want to spend it next quarter? If not, I can help you reset it.”

Because this isn’t about diary management.

It’s about performance.

It’s about protecting your executive’s bandwidth.

It’s about making space for real leadership.

Final Thought

If you want to operate at a higher level as an assistant — start with the calendar.

Because it’s not just where time gets lost.

It’s where strategy lives or dies.

And you? You’re the one holding the compass.