Why Pointless Work Meetings Exhaust Everyone
Somewhere along the way, pointless work meetings became the default solution to every problem, even when they solve absolutely nothing.
This meeting could have been a nap. Instead, we logged on, smiled politely, and watched another example of how pointless work meetings quietly drain time, energy, and patience from already exhausted adults.
Somewhere along the way, meetings became the default solution to everything.
Need clarity? Meeting.
Confused about next steps? Meeting.
Don’t know what’s going on but want to look busy? Definitely a meeting.
And yet, somehow, nothing is ever clearer afterward.
Instead, you get:
- A vague action item
- A follow-up meeting
- And a strong urge to lie down on the floor
The worst ones are the meetings that feel mandatory but accomplish absolutely nothing. The ones that could have been:
- An email
- A sentence
- Or a nap
Honestly, mostly a nap.
We log on. We smile politely. We nod at the right moments.
We listen to words that say very little, stretched over an impressive amount of time.
By the end, your brain is fried, your to-do list is longer, and you’re somehow behind on work you couldn’t do because you were in the meeting.
It’s a perfect system. For someone else.
And let’s not ignore the calendar gymnastics. Meetings stacked on meetings, back-to-back, with no time to think, breathe, or process what just happened—assuming anything happened at all.
This isn’t collaboration.
It’s endurance.
If you’ve ever left a meeting wondering how you’re more tired but no closer to done, you’re not imagining it. You’re just participating in modern productivity theater.
Around here, we cope the only way we know how—
By laughing about it, swearing about it, and putting the truth on things we use every day. Because sometimes the most productive thing you can do is admit the meeting was unnecessary.
If this meeting could have been a nap, you’re in good company.
What meeting wasted your time this week?