Self Restraint

Hopefully this soapbox rant has sufficient constructive spin... Recently I've been reflecting on why I don't enjoy meetings, particularly larger ones:

- Some meetings don't have a clear or compelling point
- For the meetings that do, the discussion frequently strays off-topic
- As a result, meetings take a lot longer than they should and/or not enough is accomplished

These observations probably aren't very insightful, but I'll challenge you to ask yourself the degree to which you are part of the problem. I asked myself this question and painfully discovered that I'm frequently a culprit. I suppose others probably look at me and think "he sure likes to hear himself talk." Here are the questions that I pledge to ask myself before opening my mouth in future meetings:

- Will this meaningfully add to the main point of the meeting?
- Is there a risk this will subtract from the main point? (Disrupt, distract, derail. Specifically from the perspective of the person organizing the meeting)

If the answer to both questions is "yes", I'll make a note to follow-up outside of the meeting and keep my mouth shut. Many forms follow-up can take: one-on-one discussion, topic of future meeting, email to broader audience. In the unusual event that it is critical to bring up immediately, I'll think carefully about how to frame the comment in a way that won't trigger further diversion.

Practicing what I preach and self-awareness are very important to me, so if you see me violating this pledge, please call me out. And yes, I recognize the irony inherent to blogging about this...

p.s. immediately after organizing my thoughts on this post, I serendipitously came across this quote from poet James Russell which nicely encapsulates the above: "Such power there is in clear-eyed self-restraint"