You Don’t Have to Take The Meeting

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Recently, I met with somebody who had rescheduled 3 times and on the day they pushed the meeting back an hour. They eventually arrived 15 minutes late and then spent most of the remainder on their phone.

This is a waste of time for everyone.

Don’t agree to meetings you don’t want to attend. Instead, provide a polite no and move on, without creating a negative impression on someone else.

Here’s some templates:

“I would love to meet, but unfortunately, my schedule is tight this quarter, can we take a rain check for now.”

“Alas, I have some aggressive goals this quarter and so I’m laser focused there, at the expense of some other meetings. Let me review in 3 months and I will reach back out if my schedule allows.”

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