Mark Zuckerberg Gets 'Really Frustrated' And In A Bad Mood When He Can't Do This One Thing

Mark Zuckerberg says the secret of his calendar management is leaving it empty, and not packing it tight. "I try to generally keep a bunch of time open," the Meta META chief told Stripe co-founder John Collison, adding that over-scheduling drives him "in a bad mood … I just like explode."

What Happened: Speaking to Collison at a recent fireside chat, Zuckerberg scrapped recurring one-on-one meetings — "I talk to all these people constantly, more than they want to talk to me," he joked — because every day's priorities change and he wants blocks to chase the top three tasks that pop up each morning.

"I get really frustrated and in a bad mood if my whole day is scheduled and there's a thing that I know is really important and I don't get time to do it because I'm sitting in other things that are not the most important thing to be doing," he tells Collison.

His self-styled flexibility mirrors the "80 Percent Rule," a Google productivity mantra that advises leaders to book only 80% of the workday and leave the rest for surprises. Productivity coach Laura Mae Martin says leaders who "shoot to under-commit" hit the right workload sweet spot and avoid burnout.

Zuckerberg echoed that rationale: leaving "a meaningful amount of your time open" lets him pounce on high-impact issues without delaying decisions.

The Growing Anti-Meeting Club: Zuckerberg now joins at least four other big-name bosses who shun standing check-ins. According to a CNBC report from 2018, Tesla's TSLA Elon Musk told staff to "walk out of a meeting" that adds no value, pressing for fewer, shorter gatherings. Amazon AMZN founder Jeff Bezos enforces the "two-pizza rule," capping any session at the number of people two pizzas can feed.

Nvidia's NVDA Jensen Huang "prefers not to schedule one-on-one meetings," keeping himself available on demand instead. Airbnb's ABNB Brian Chesky has banned internal email and blocks all meetings before 10 am to curb "grind culture."

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