How to reject a meeting request at work

There's a bit more to the article, which I've summarized below:

1. Determine if the meeting is process-oriented or mission-oriented. If the meeting is process-oriented, you probably shouldn't reject the request.

2. If the meeting is mission-oriented, ask the meeting organizer for an agenda via email, which will help you figure out if you are necessary/required. It also creates a paper trail.

3. If you decide you aren't necessary, politely decline with enough advance notice to be able to address pushback.

If you didn't like this, I'm sorry. I wrote this right after I got into a mess rejecting a meeting request at a previous job, so I wrote down everything I should have done differently.