Starting from the late half of 2022, I started to go to less meetings. If I remembered correctly, couple of unplanned meetings that I attended recently included one with my boss to ask for a raise, another one to criticize one of my boss’ policy. And yesterday I dropped out of a meeting after I realized that it wasn’t for me. I wasn’t mad in any way, instead, I’m peaceful.
Yes, if you have not noticed, I’m going towards one extreme view of having my days planned now. Meeting is supposed to solve problems, if not, I’d rather to be left alone working (or playing). I felt no regret so far. If I really felt the need, I’ll ask a private meeting with one of my team members. In that meeting, I felt much relaxed to solve the problem that I plan to solve. If I ever failed to solve the problem, I would retrospect but would not ask for more meetings. Because I felt the number of meetings has no contribution towards the problem solving.
I don’t understand why so many people like to talk to each other without a point. I don’t mind people ease into the conversation by mentioning the weather; but sooner or later we all need to know it’s a business meeting, it’s not a chitchat with your neighbors talking about your dog’s habit or your children school activities. It’s none of that, thus I don’t understand what people want to get out of in those meetings. Maybe nothing, yes if that’s what they want to achieve, then they nailed it perfectly. Not only that, they nailed it every time perfectly.
That’s the shame I’m experiencing every time I get out of such meeting. So I decided in the end to only go to the meeting that I think I could contribute. That’s me today. I don’t regret my decision, moreover I’d like to polish my method to suit my better need in the future. In the end, I work for myself and I want to help.
