Death To All Meetings
(Except the rare productive ones :)
What are the ripple effects of the pandemic in my world as a creative? I think the boom of Zoom culture is one of the them. I can say with utmost confidence (and zero research) that there has definitely been a spike of Zoom meetings to exactly 10,000%. I think we all feel it. It feels eerily similar to how me and my peers feel about social media. Is it a necessary evil? Something we all take part in, even though we detest it the majority of the time?
So what is it about Zoom, and the vast majority of meetings that I dislike? They occupy too much unnecessary time. I can think of a few comedic anecdotes that express this. Jerry Seinfeld said on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee — and I’m paraphrasing — "The point of meetings is to feel good about the meeting. After the meeting everyone can congratulate each other on how good the meeting was and how excited they are about what was discussed in the meeting." And nothing really happens from there. Bill Burr rants (paraphrasing again) about the awkward moment at the end of a meeting where 1 person hasn't said anything yet. So they add something meaningless to the end of a meeting that drags it on even longer. Seth Godin discusses with Tim Ferris, if you’re about to organize a meeting, first ask yourself if it can be said in a memo/email/video first. If so, do that.
My whole goal in life is to have longevity in my career. I love making music and I want to do as much of that as possible. To do this, I try to ruthlessly eliminate day-to-day bullshit. I’m trying to cut out distractions (they’re fucking endless btw). So if I love making music, and anything good in my career has come from the songs that I’ve made, my dumb brain says “hey idiot, you should just make more songs.” And the worst part about a meeting for me is it’s not just the meeting that occupies my day. Before the meeting I’m thinking about the meeting, and after the meeting I’m thinking about all the new things I have to do because of the meeting. And because of that, I’m thinking less about music. And I’m definitely making less music.
Btw, while I was taking less meetings I made this hype reel for my new song under my alias Glass Petals. It’s a collaboration with Walker & Royce and Elohim and comes out friday!
-felix
Side note: I am a reasonable person and realize meetings are necessary at times. Here are a few adjustments that have helped me navigate them so they work for me.
- Only take meetings with people who are enrolled in your musical journey / success.
- Schedule your own meetings.
- Don’t upgrade Zoom so it has to end after 40mins. (bonus points for not telling anyone this before the meeting starts lol)