Fewer meetings means you have to show more impact

Taking back your calendar and ruthlessly declining/killing meetings means people see you less. And when people see you less, they wonder what you’re doing. So if they can’t see visible impact, they wonder if you’re doing anything at all.

So if you start declining more meetings, the onus is on you to prove that it’s worth it. You have to show your team that the deep work you’re getting done is more valuable to them than whatever you could have said in those meetings.