Maker's Schedule, Manager's schedule: a Paul Graham essay

This essay by Paul Graham (Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule) puts into words a problem I've had for a long time: the struggle to complete projects that require multiple hours of dedicated attention when I know about upcoming interruptions.

When you're operating on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in. Plus you have to remember to go to the meeting. That's no problem for someone on the manager's schedule. There's always something coming on the next hour; the only question is what. But when someone on the maker's schedule has a meeting, they have to think about it.

On a side note, I think it's interesting that I regularly read essays on the web, and would even like to contribute my own, time & talent permitting. When in high school/college, I thought the regular essay assignments wouldn't translate into real life. After all, I didn't know any adults that ever sat down to compose an essay.