
Monday. 9 a.m. Meeting:
Topic? No idea.
People? Too many.
Goal? Unclear.
🙄
Welcome to the glamorous world of useless meetings — the ones that start with “I just wanted to touch base…” and end one hour later with “Okay, let’s follow up next week,” and literally nothing in between.
In a world where you can send a 3-minute voice note, attach a file, drop a quick message or — if you’re feeling fancy — share a Google Doc…
the “could’ve-been-an-email” meeting still reigns supreme....
And yes, sometimes even I get dragged into them.
I sit there thinking: “Why am I here? And who exactly benefits from this waste of oxygen?”
📍Red flags you’re trapped in a useless meeting:
- The title says nothing: “General alignment” (Translation: nobody knows what we’re aligning on).
- One person talks. A lot. Usually the one who scheduled the meeting to hear themselves speak.
- Someone shares their screen for 47 minutes: and shows a slide that says “TO DO: TBD”.
- There’s a ‘brainstorming session’: with no structure, no outcome, and no one writing anything down.
- The big conclusion is: “Let’s set up another call.” (Great, so we can suffer again.)
🛟 My personal survival kit:
- Fake selective interest: nod occasionally — especially when people drop words like “optimization,” “workflow,” or “synergy.” No one knows what they mean anyway;
- Take notes. But your own.
Grocery list, post captions, or a passive-aggressive text you’d love to send to the person or gazer this useless meeting ; - Ask yourself one deep question every 10 minutes:
Like, “How many real things could I have done in this hour?” ;
Or, “Should I just sell everything and buy a horse ranch in Argentina?” 😂 - Mute. Always mute. Even if you’re physically in the room, find a way.
- Don’t take action. Take distance. If nothing else, at least you’ll walk out with material for your next blog post. (Like I just did.)
🔚 Wrap-up (before your soul leaves your body)
In a perfect world, meetings solve problems, generate ideas, and give you clarity.
In the real world, they drain your soul and leave you with 14 more tabs open in your brain.🙄
So maybe the real question isn’t: “Do we need this meeting?”
But rather: “Who needs it… and why do they need us there?”
Let me ask you this:
How many hours of your life have you lost in meetings that led nowhere?
And what could you have built instead — a business, a relationship, a six-pack, a nap?
Tell me. Or send me an email.
(It’s faster. Just like the meeting should’ve been.)
Silvia 😉
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