My old Boss told me once, that if a meeting needs you to speak for less than 5 minutes, decline the meeting.
Now this is something which can’t be true for all the cases but even if we just go by numbers, you will see how true he was. How many meetings in a week we attend which can be handled via a chat or quick 3 minutes call on phone. So what I did ? I started following his advice and with few initial bumps and learning to say NO for a change, it started to show its colours. My day is little more open to read and write, learn new things, create ideas and work on ideas I thought earlier, have friendly catch up with colleagues (who by the way running from one meeting to another) but I was suddently felt relaxed.
But there is a catch (well, where it isn’t? ), be ready to make some people angry, and sometimes really angry. But question is, does that really impract me professionally. End of the day, I will be able to finish all the tasks twice as quickly and able to deliver quality work on time and that will make Other people happy, really Happy. So Yes, I can live with few angry people around me. But Question comes as why sudden realisation ? Why this enlightment of Wisdom which will lead to an akward eye contact in lbby with an angry colleague. Well, answer is not complicated at all. My own mental peace take precedence over anything else.
I have running around corporate cubicles and meeting rooms for past 15 years. But how much I push my boundry, I still work for someone. I can’t keep everyone happy around me. There will always some tasks left for the day to be completed. There will always be a meeting I will reach late without knowing head or tail of what is being discussed. There will always be a person more interested in finding mistake in my work then appreciating what I have done for so long. So I created ‘Bubble of Peace’ around me. Something you might have seen where people get inside and roll down the hit. Nothing touches them and they are safe (with some headache due to all that rotation) but clearly it saves them.
Pic . Courtesy – Wikipedia
So few rules which I follow and it helped me till now and hopefully in future too. To accept a meeting, I ask these questions to myself –
- Is output of the meeting can help me with tasks in my hand. If No, Decline
- Am I going to speak for less then 5 mins. If Yes, Decline
- Is the meeting outside my general working hours. If Yes, decline
- Is meeting got no clear agenda and send few hours before meeting time. If Yes, Decline.
This may or may not help you professionally but surely it will bring bit of peace to your mind in long run.