Appreciate the result

I fully acknowledge as part of my personality a complete disdain when I have things to do and I feel that someone is wasting my time. This is never more evident than when attending some business meetings.

There are very few times when I do not have something to do at work. Because I refuse to work 10-15 hour days I am constantly working and try to be as efficient as possible.

Yesterday, I had a meeting scheduled from 9:30am until 11:00am. I arrived at 9:25am and was the only one ready. Ten minutes later we were still missing one person. Once we got started we had a productive conversation for about ten minutes and then the first unrelated story was told. For the next six hours, forty-five minutes of which was lunch, we cycled through meaningful discussion and superfluous comments, stories, and explanations.

In the end we accomplished our tasks but it took longer than expected and much longer than it should have. I was ticked-off 'What a waste of time'

But then I thought, 'If we didn't meet I would have put it off. It would not have gotten done for another two weeks.'

It was then that I shifted my focus to what was accomplished and not how it could have gone differently. I realized my options were to be upset at the loss of time or appreciate what was accomplished. I decided to appreciate the result.

This does not mean that I will not try to have meetings run more efficiently in the future but it does mean that I choose now to enjoy the accomplishment rather than dwelling on the negative.

So, whenever you can... Appreciate the result.