There is an interesting article by Carol Hymowitz in the Wall Street Journal today titled “Packed Calendars Rule Over Executives.” It makes the case that CEOs today are busier than ever and often feel imprisoned by their calendars. As a result, it’s often hard to find time to attend to things that are important.

This not news to anyone running a business. We’re all so busy that we find it difficult to do everything that we wish we could. And often we find ourselves devoting more time to putting out day-to-day fires than thinking strategically about our businesses.

Here’s how my coach, Doug Gfeller, suggested that I deal with this problem. He suggested that I put a regular appointment with myself on my schedule. Surprisingly, this works pretty well. I find I’m reluctant to schedule an appointment over this time unless it’s very, very important. And I find that as time goes by, I’m increasingly selective about what really is very very important.

Of course, I do schedule some things over this time. But I never schedule anything over my weekly phone appointment with Doug. That fact that someone else is willing to preserve some time for me drives me to protect it at almost any cost.

So here’s a suggestion for a really powerful way to protect regular time for important work on your business: get together with several other CEOs regularly to focus on the strategic challenges and opportunities that will determine the future of your organization. It will be on your calendar and others will be expecting you to protect the time.

It really works.