- Keep meetings short, trim down the agenda to a few related items and keep the meeting focused. Meetings can be less burdensome.
- End the meeting with something special or enjoyable or fun — a specific song, something random (if that's what y'all enjoy), a trip to the inner world playground, etc. This can help with attendance, focus, and a sense of accomplishment for having had the meeting.
- If you have trouble focusing during meetings here's some ideas:
- Co-regulate with others. Y'all can have a buddy in the room or in videochat who is also "doing work" or holding their own system meeting at the same time. This helps by setting up a "work vibe" and some expectations and accountability with you. Just being in a space where folk are concentrating & working can be helpful for building focus. If you don't have a plural buddy, you can hook up with singular folk doing this type of co-regulation through a service like https://workbuddiesonline.com (video on while working optional, muted while working) or https://Focusmate.com (video on while working mandatory, audio while working preferred). It's like being in a virtual cubicle with (or near) other folks who are also working.
- Also helpful might be ambiance videos (such as T E R A V I B E on YouTube like check out this writer's room Victorian Era vibe) for their background sounds, or environmental sounds like babbling brooks, forest sounds, thunderstorms, ocean waves, breezes through trees — whatever floats your system's boat.
- Keep a playlist for meeting times. We like electronica & instrumental music whenever we're doing projects where we need to think in words, so the words of the music don't interfere (and we're not tempted to sing).
- Use with caution — this might not work for everyone: we like hemi-sync types of recordings or other binaural audio as well (use with headphones). The Ooooo iOS app is a free app to use with headphones for binural (both sides of the brain) stimulation, with or without white or brown noise. Green noise is also interesting.
- Hold meetings in the same place, or have a specific "starting meeting" signal — like taking out a specific journal for minutes, or having a same/similar meeting-start statement — so that y'all eventually get used to the "this is meeting time" vibe. If it works for you, hold meetings outdoors or in a safe place.
Hopefully these ideas will help you& concentrate better and enjoy your meetings more.
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