One of the horrors of the modern office job is the dreaded meeting. This is when a group of people is herded into a sad, gray conference room to sit around a table on uncomfortable chairs and recite catchphrases like “low-hanging fruit,” “I don’t have the bandwidth” and “at the end of the day.”
Each meeting you attend, your hope is that these catchphrases somehow summon a big raise or promotion. Unfortunately, all they do is create more work and added responsibility.
There was a time when you were young and naive when you thought meetings were the greatest thing ever. At that time, you loved people, you loved brainstorming, and doing anything but staring at your computer monitor was great. Over time, it has become quite clear why meetings get such a bad rap. In addition to being unproductive and a general waste of time, it takes nearly 30 minutes to get refocused on what you were working on before the meeting.
Face it, it takes a lot to get through a meeting. And it only gets worse if you have back-to-back meetings or several meetings throughout the day. Arctic Coolers, your water cooler service in New Jersey, offers tips for surviving a meeting the best that you can.
Bring a Drink
Head to the office water cooler before the meeting and fill a glass with water. This glass of water gives you any number of plausible reasons to bale on parts of the meeting. For example, once the glass is empty, you can quietly leave the meeting to fill it up again, only to never return. In desperation, you can “accidentally” spill water on yourself and then excuse yourself to go get it cleaned up.
Doodle
Most will assume you are taking a sketch pad and set of pencils into the meeting to take really detailed notes. Of course, you will not write a solitary word, the pencils and paper are for doodling.
Most of your colleagues may find this rude and a waste of time, but this is exactly how you feel about the meeting. Besides, research shows that doodling and drawing have been found to be an effective focus tool. So when your boss busts you for scribbling during a meeting, you can say it is to help you focus.
Get a Mirror Buddy
Look around the room and find a colleague who is as obviously as bored as you and subtly mimic their behavior. If they are resting their chin on their hand, then you rest your chin on your hand. If they are mindlessly twirling their pen, you mindlessly twirl your pen. The game ends rather quickly when they make eye contact with you.
Daydream
Meetings are the perfect setting to zone out and go to your happy place. The idea is to let your mind wander. You can think about the upcoming vacation you have planned or daydream about the dream job that doesn’t require you to attend any meetings.
By the way, in your next meeting, perhaps you could bring up getting an awesome bottleless water cooler from Arctic Coolers. Contact us today.
