Most of us will struggle to stay focused during very long meetings - our attention is going to wander after an hour. Long meetings could be a sign of failure of leadership to run efficient meetings. To change that, consider these questions:
<ul>
<li>Can a meeting be split into multiple smaller sessions focusing on specific topics relevant to everyone attending?</li>
<li>Can meetings happen regularly?</li>
<li>Can there be a 15-minute coffee break included every hour?</li>
<li>Could some of the information be conveyed in writing instead of in the meeting?</li>
<li>Can attendance be optional?</li>
</ul>

Creating a productive meeting culture

<ul>
<li>Don't bring your phone or laptop into the meeting.</li>
<li>Bring coffee and water to your meeting to keep your hands busy while you listen.</li>
<li>Develop a meditation practice where you notice your wandering thoughts and bring them back to the present.</li>
<li>Try to gamify your focus. Add a tally mark for every 5 minutes you stay focused.</li>
<li> Team up with a buddy and make a game of keeping each other focused.</li>
</ul>

How to stay focused in meetings

<img width="785" height="327" src="https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature.png" alt="Ask Doist Long Meetings Margarida Feature" srcset="https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature.png 2880w, https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature-1536x640.png 1536w, https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature-2048x853.png 2048w, https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature-352x147.png 352w, https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature-704x293.png 704w, https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Ask-Doist-Long-Meetings-Margarida-Feature-1088x453.png 1088w"><div>.</div><img alt="📬" src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.0.0/svg/1f4ec.svg" width="18" height="18"><div dir="ltr"> Need advice about remote work? Teamwork? Leadership? Productivity? Careers? Life? Send us an email at <a href="mailto:ask@doist.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" dir="ltr">ask@doist.com</a>.</div><BLOCKQUOTE>My question to you is about staying focused at very long meetings. I work at a university, and we have very long meetings. I find I do very well for the first hour or so and then my brain wanders! I turn my e-mail off to try to stop me getting sucked into dealing with these but then end up doing the mail already in my inbox or looking at the BBC news or Facebook etc. Any articles or ideas to help with this type of concentration and focus? I know we try to work with our students having lectures of no more than 55-minutes due to attention spans wandering after that long.Any advice to help longer term focus?</BLOCKQUOTE>You have regular meetings that go over an hour? Wow!If they don’t expect students to stay focused for longer than 55-minute lectures, they shouldn’t expect it of staff either. You’re only human. Of course your attention is going to wander after an hour. To me, this is clearly a failure of leadership to run efficient meetings and not at all a shortcoming on your part. Your first course of action should be trying to create a more productive meeting culture, if possible:<UL><LI>Can the meeting be split into multiple smaller meetings so that the topics covered are relevant to everyone there?</LI><LI>Can the meetings happen less regularly?</LI><LI>Can there be a 15-minute coffee break included at least every hour?</LI><LI>Could some of the information be conveyed in writing rather than in a meeting?</LI><LI>Can attendance be optional??</LI></UL>If you can’t shift the meeting culture in your department to something that’s more reasonable, I would say that email and reading BBC news may actually be a more productive use of your time than trying to force yourself to concentrate. Your time and attention are being held hostage – give yourself permission to take back some of that time for your other work.If you’re really committed to trying to stay focused in these meetings, I would recommend the following:<UL><LI>Don’t bring your phone or laptop into the meeting with you. Go back to good old pen and paper note-taking.</LI><LI>Bring coffee and water to your meeting. The act of drinking keeps your hands busy while you listen and, either by caffeine or placebo, you feel more alert.</LI><LI>Develop a meditation practice where you observe your wandering thoughts and bring them back to the present. Meditation sounds hokey to many people, but it really is an effective way to build awareness of your attention and start learning to stay present (not to mention get comfortable with being bored). It definitely isn’t a short-term solution and takes a ton of practice. While these meetings might not be worth staying present for, meditation has benefits that go beyond staying focused at a meeting, so I’d recommend it anyway.</LI><LI>Try to gamify your focus. For example, add a tally mark for every 5 minutes you’re able to stay focused and try to build up as many tallies as possible. Not only does that make it a bit of a fun challenge, but it also breaks the meeting down into smaller chunks. It’s hard to stay focused for another 30 minutes, but now you only have to stay focused for the next 5.</LI><LI>Do you have a buddy at work who has a similar problem? Team up and make a game of keeping each other focused. eg any time one of you catches the other not paying attention, you owe them a quarter. Or do a post-meeting quiz where you each pick a question that the other person would only know the answer to if they were paying attention the whole time. If the other person can’t answer your question, you get a point.</LI></UL>I’m really sorry that you have to spend so much of your time in meetings that aren’t even interesting enough to hold your attention. I can say with confidence that your lack of focus is 100% not your fault, so cut yourself some slack.Best of luck!– Becky<div>Ask Doist is a regular column answering real readers’ questions about work and life, from the philosophical to the practical. Got a question? Email us at ask@doist.com.</div><img src="https://25r4fj22vjh18a4i91qamh06-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_11c-240x240.jpg" alt="Becky Kane" width="72" height="72">

A university employee asks how to survive her department's hour-plus meetings, but is it her fault she can't focus?

productivity

Productivity

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

My question to you is about staying focused at very long meetings. I work at a university, and we have very long meetings. I find I do very well for the first hour or so and then my brain wanders! I turn my e-mail off to try to stop me getting sucked into dealing with these but then end up doing the mail already in my inbox or looking at the BBC news or Facebook etc. Any articles or ideas to help with this type of concentration and focus? I know we try to work with our students having lectures of no more than 55-minutes due to attention spans wandering after that long.

Any advice to help longer term focus?

You have regular meetings that go over an hour? Wow!

If they don’t expect students to stay focused for longer than 55-minute lectures, they shouldn’t expect it of staff either. You’re only human. Of course your attention is going to wander after an hour. To me, this is clearly a failure of leadership to run efficient meetings and not at all a shortcoming on your part. Your first course of action should be trying to create a more productive meeting culture, if possible:

<ul><li>Can the meeting be split into multiple smaller meetings so that the topics covered are relevant to everyone there? </li><li>Can the meetings happen less regularly? </li><li>Can there be a 15-minute coffee break included at least every hour? </li><li>Could some of the information be conveyed in writing rather than in a meeting? </li><li>Can attendance be optional?? </li> </ul>

If you can’t shift the meeting culture in your department to something that’s more reasonable, I would say that email and reading BBC news may actually be a more productive use of your time than trying to force yourself to concentrate. Your time and attention are being held hostage – give yourself permission to take back some of that time for your other work.

If you’re really committed to trying to stay focused in these meetings, I would recommend the following:

<ul><li>Don’t bring your phone or laptop into the meeting with you. Go back to good old pen and paper note-taking. </li><li>Bring coffee and water to your meeting. The act of drinking keeps your hands busy while you listen and, either by caffeine or placebo, you feel more alert. </li><li>Develop a meditation practice where you observe your wandering thoughts and bring them back to the present. Meditation sounds hokey to many people, but it really is an effective way to build awareness of your attention and start learning to stay present (not to mention get comfortable with being bored). It definitely isn’t a short-term solution and takes a ton of practice. While these meetings might not be worth staying present for, meditation has benefits that go beyond staying focused at a meeting, so I’d recommend it anyway. </li><li>Try to gamify your focus. For example, add a tally mark for every 5 minutes you’re able to stay focused and try to build up as many tallies as possible. Not only does that make it a bit of a fun challenge, but it also breaks the meeting down into smaller chunks. It’s hard to stay focused for another 30 minutes, but now you only have to stay focused for the next 5. </li><li>Do you have a buddy at work who has a similar problem? Team up and make a game of keeping each other focused. eg any time one of you catches the other not paying attention, you owe them a quarter. Or do a post-meeting quiz where you each pick a question that the other person would only know the answer to if they were paying attention the whole time. If the other person can’t answer your question, you get a point. </li> </ul>

I’m really sorry that you have to spend so much of your time in meetings that aren’t even interesting enough to hold your attention. I can say with confidence that your lack of focus is 100% not your fault, so cut yourself some slack.

When You Can’t Stay Focused During Very Long Meetings

Creating a productive meeting culture

How to stay focused in meetings

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