Let’s start with the power of “no” 🙅♀️
Past experience truly is the greatest teacher. Looking back, I would always be the first to say “yes” to projects, “yes” to tasks, “yes” to involvement in everything. It felt expected, it felt like the right thing to do. It was dumb. It simply added personal stress, meaning that all the impressing that I thought I was doing by saying “yes” was being undermined by my lack of time to deliver effectively on any one thing.
When asked to join a meeting, don’t fall into that trap and blindly accept it. First, question why this meeting is happening in the first place. If that’s not clear, walk away.
Meetings have become a default crutch when trying to address ambiguity, but simply gathering people together with no agenda and no goal in mind will likely not get us to clear resolutions. In fact, the more people you gather the more questions will likely arise.
If ambiguity is the issue that we’re trying to solve, what other ways can be explored to alleviate that problem? And how can we make it more long-lasting? Maybe people need better training, clearer job descriptions, or a clearer project outline. No amount of meetings can address these root causes.
