I protect my calendar more than I protect my wallet.
While certain fiscal experts may take umbrage, I've always found there is more money to be made. But, there is yet any more time that can be created.
I schedule meetings and even calls. Yes - if you dial me up, it may very well go to voicemail and I'll return your message via email so we can set up a time to talk. No, it's not sexy, but to me, what's scheduled is sacred.
As Annie Dillard reminds us so well:
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.
I can't get back these hours and this hour matters because I'm trading in the opportunity to do something else.
So when you want to see what matters to me, please check my Google Calendar.