Meetings are a very important part of our life. According to the dictionary “Meeting” means, an assembly of people for a particular purpose, especially for a formal discussion, or a situation when two or more people meet, by chance or arrangement.
A person’s professional life relies and revolves around meetings because when you work for someone, or if you do some business, you have to meet people to discuss and plan the work you do. Meetings play an important part in the success and failure of your chosen profession or the business you do.
We live in a modern world and are influenced by technology. Life has become much easier due to telecommunications and internet. You can be anywhere but still be connected to people the world over.
Due to this progress and constant meetings held by individuals to succeed in life, the use of the phrase “In a meeting” has gained a lot of importance and has probably become a status symbol. If you are in a meeting, you are considered as someone who is busy and very successful. This may be true but could also be a perception. But this same phrase is also the most misused by people either to show others, how important they are or sometimes it is used to avoid some people or situations.
There are examples of this misuse and therefore when some people say, I am “In a Meeting”, then the question arises, Really?
The most common use of this phrase is when one receives a call from a tele-marketing agent and people who do not want to respond to them for various reasons say, “In a Meeting” please call me later, but once the number is noted then the call is never answered.
“I believe that the best way to succeed is to speak the truth and say things the way they are. Truth will help you succeed and survive for a longer period.”
People use this excuse very often to show how important they are.
I was once with a carpenter and after work we decided to have a cup of tea, he receives a call from another client, he answers the phone and tells the caller that he is busy in a meeting with an Interior Designer and cannot talk. I asked him why he lied as we were free and just sipping tea. The carpenter said he did this so that the client who called him would realise how important and busy he was.
On a funny note, I experienced this with a colleague who lied to his wife while he was with me. I was with a colleague and we were driving to go to our place of work, his wife calls on his mobile phone and I heard him say that he could not do a particular errand because yesterday he was in a meeting with me. The truth was we had not met that day but he said that to avoid the situation. I told him that if ever his wife asked if he was with me, I would tell her the truth. Thankfully his wife never asked me, so he is safe and we still work together professionally.
One can understand that people do things or portray themselves in a particular way, to succeed in life or sometimes to secure their situations to avoid problems, but the fact is, what these people speak is not the truth. The tele-marketing agents or the call center representatives are also doing their job, we have our reasons to avoid them but that can be done by speaking the truth. The carpenter created an image or persona about himself to his client but he can increase his importance by proving how good he is in his work because his work will eventually show how good he is and lastly my colleague, he avoided the situation where he could have been pulled up for not being able to run an errand but the fact is, by lying, he betrayed the trust that his wife had in him.
There are people around us who do things to succeed and survive, some do it because they are compelled to do so and some do it to find an easy way out.
I believe that the best way to succeed is to speak the truth and say things the way they are. Truth will help you succeed and survive for a longer period.
Therefore say “In a Meeting”, if you, “really” are.