Prepare for a meeting, then stop checking

Last-minute checking feels responsible, but after a point it only adds nerves. You can prepare well for a meeting by setting a prep time, writing one page of notes, and using a done check that tells you preparation is finished.

Then the last few minutes are for settling, not for opening the slides again.

Why is it hard to stop checking?

A meeting brings a small sense of being watched. Checking feels like a way to stay safe.

The trouble is that each new look shows you something else to worry about. Your attention gets used up before the meeting even starts.

Try this: prep, done check, settle

Use this for any meeting where you need to speak or decide.

1. Book a prep time in your calendar, such as thirty minutes the afternoon before, or an hour before the meeting.
2. In that time, write one page: your main point, key facts or figures, and what you need from the meeting.
3. Prepare any slides or documents, then test links, camera and sound if it is online.
4. Do the done check below.
5. Close the files. Put the one page where you can see it.
6. In the last five minutes, settle instead of reviewing.

The done check

Preparation is finished when you can answer yes to each of these:

• I can say my main point in one sentence without looking.
• I know where my key facts are on my page.
• I know what I want to leave the meeting with.
• Everything I need to share opens and works.

If all four are yes, you are ready. Further checking is optional, and you can choose not to.

What to do in the last five minutes

These minutes are better spent calming your body than reviewing. Try one of these:

• Breathe slowly with the slow breathing pacer, letting the out-breath be longer.
• Drink some water and loosen your shoulders.
• Look out of a window and name three things you can see.
• Read only your one sentence, once.

Adapting it to real life

If meetings come back to back, give each a two-minute prep instead of none: one line for your point, one for what you need. If a call is fixed in your day, setting up a focus period without missing a scheduled call helps you work right up to it calmly.

If you are presenting in your second language, practise your main sentence aloud once at prep time. For a parent-teacher meeting or a meeting with a landlord, the same one page works: what you want to say, what you want to ask.

To size your prep time, see a realistic session length for the task. If meetings keep spilling into your evenings, the work boundaries topic may help.

Where to go next

If nerves before meetings feel overwhelming or come with panic, our support page lists people to talk to. More guides sit on our focus and attention guides.

If you like, Sadhguru’s free seven-minute guided meditation in the Miracle of Mind app can fill those minutes before you join, in place of one more look at the slides.