Ask HN: How do I concentrate more in meetings
I just try to listen but start to think about anything else till i catch myself but the process just repeats. Basically its boring but important. Not sure if there is some solution, maybe making notes ?
If the answer is no, I'd advocate paying minimal attention in case you're needed or need something, and trying to be productive on something else. If the answer is yes, then some other attention strategy is needed.
I've seen people skip meetings entirely and then complain when decisions are made without them. I've also been to lots of meetings where there was near zero point in being there, but if I hadn't then I might have missed some small important thing. Especially for larger meetings, it's completely realistic imo to mostly have it as background noise but be there so you're in the loop. Incidentally, I did that a lot with university lectures too.
This may not be the right strategy for everyone, but neither is trying to absorb information from a meeting when your mind doesn't work that way.
1. The meeting is not important for you, and they don't care if you're present at all times. It's for some other team, and you're only there to give input at times. e.g. we bring an architecture expert to the UI meeting to double check whether the system can make recommendations the way we'd like.
Since working from home, what I actually did during meetings is zone out, like sweeping the house, going for a walk, washing dishes. Low physical activities that are also difficult to concentrate on because they're so boring. I'll zone out but snap back into focus as soon as someone mentions my name or the word "app". My brain is a passive filter.
Before developing that technique, the hour long morning "stand ups" would drain half my energy for the day. It's not necessarily a good idea to focus.
2. The meeting is quite important. In that case, it should be a little interesting, because it's relevant. Make minutes of meeting and send it to the team. People will be grateful because most people see it as a chore.
Here's some anti-meeting ideas:
* If the meetings are via video, audio record them and see if there is a transcription service. Even if the transcription is not great - you already know context of the meeting so its likely you can fill in the gaps. Worst case you can listen at 1.5-2x speed.
* Petition for much shorter meetings.
* Start a culture where saying "Sorry, I missed that" is accepted.
* Ask them to document attendee roles (aka tell my why you invited me): decision maker, consulted, informed. If you are in the "informed" category of attendees you can probably zone out or do other work.
* One of my pet peeves is people reading to me like I'm in kindergarten. Ask them to send their stuff ahead of time if they intend to bore you with a slide deck.
What do you want/need from meeting? You need right mind space in order to achieve that.
If I'm only listening, I'll hit a slow section and my mind will drift to something else and I'll zone out on the conversation sometimes missing the important part.
Also sometimes I pre-state to people "I'll be taking notes on my laptop, I am listening and not doing email haha" kind of thing so people dont feel your being rude and ignoring them.
I'd suggest its either interesting, your not well versed enough to understand consequences so can't push back or voice your own ideas, or its not a meeting for you to attend because its outside your zone of influence.
It’s a dance, and you really just need to know what part you have to catch your partner so they don’t fall and die. Everything else is muscle memory.
If you want to be taken seriously in meetings, move everyone towards answering the primary question if everyone hasn’t already moved in that direction in a reasonable time.