Your sharpest, most awake hours are limited. Stop handing them to people who drain the battery.

There are only a few hours a day when you are genuinely capable of good work or a real conversation, and they are not evenly spread. Those hours tend to go to whoever asks first, which is rarely the best use of them. Attention is a resource with a schedule, not a tap that runs all day.

Work out when your best hours land and protect two of them for something that deserves them. Move the draining exchanges to the times you have less to lose. This is about placement rather than about cutting anybody out.