No More Meetings...Ever!

I hate meetings. I know I'm not alone. They're not productive, they waste time, and anything that could be said in a meeting could be said in an email.

Full disclosure. I'm an introvert. Even though I actually spent my childhood as an extrovert, I started transitioning into more of an introvert my senior year of high school. By the time I graduated college, I was a full-blown introvert that had a small group of friends and loved my alone time.

But, that's not why I hate meetings. I honestly don't understand them. Who first said, "let's sit around a table, talking, not listening, doodling on a notepad, and waste time for an hour or so every day." Was it someone desperate to be heard or that strange concept that "at work, we're family" or some other nonsense?

In two years in a office job in IT, I spent as much as 10 hours a week in meetings. What was accomplished? People blowing a bunch of hot air in a room that already had AC issues. On the other hand, watching people dozing, trying to discreetly pick their noses, and seeing just how far the brown nosers could shove their head up the boss's butt was kind of amusing.

I thought once I left that job to work for myself as a writer, I'd finally be free of the requests for meetings. After all, I was working fully online and not locally.

Imagine my surprise when clients and platforms wanted video interviews, chats, and meetings. Apparently, in order for someone to pay me $0.01 (no, you're not reading that wrong - a whole penny) per word, they needed to verify I was a real person and get to know me through a video interview and have weekly meetings to discuss the direction of their blog posts.

At the time, I was just starting and had bills to pay, so even a penny per word was better than all those "for exposure" gigs. Yet, I made it very clear every time that I didn't do meetings or video anything.

Surprise, surprise! At least 90% of the time, my request for email communications only was accepted. Everyone involved saved time and I always had a digital paper trail of exactly what was requested. I can't tell you how often that helped out when a client would claim I didn't do what was asked.

So, not only are meetings an absolute waste of time, but sticking email or at least text-based chat and messaging systems ensures you can always go back and see what was said.

I'd like to think that in a society where AI is starting to give us answers and even write full blog posts (though every one I've read is boring at best and completely wrong at worst), we could finally get rid of meetings. There are better and more effective ways to communicate.

I know many people love meetings. They crave that connection with others. To them, I just have one thing to say - hang out with people after work, during breaks, and during lunch/dinner. I'm happy with some light conversation with co-workers, but I'd rather get my work done and head home versus endless meetings that are just socializing sessions disguised as work.

Anyone else with me? Any other writers or freelancers sick of unpaid hours sitting in front of a screen talking to someone who has no clue what they want?

Maybe if I liked people and socializing more, I'd start protests all over the world. But, that'd be a kind of meeting and I'm just happy snuggling with my cat purring in my lap, watching TV, and checking out the latest posts on Vocal Media.