Zero-Planning Attitude Adjustments

By admin

In a zero-planning state, we are confronted with entering a meeting with the proper attitude or, as is the case with presentations or documents, altering the attitudes of the other participants or the chairperson. The fact that some sage lacked the foresight to allow us to plan or prepare does not inhibit us in these situations, because zero planning on our part does one simple, beautiful, and wonderful thing: it increases the entertainment value of the event for everyone involved.

Let’s just think about this for a minute. If we have no time to plan or prepare, yet we are required to participate in a meeting, then what are we to the others in the meeting? We are an unexpected event, that’s what. Hence, we actually get to be part of the entertainment, not just observe it. This being the case, our attitude is actually elevated. We can look forward to being part of the show and providing the others with an unexpected event to deal with. So our attitude is intact. We will simply go into that meeting and be ourselves. We just do our best with what we have to work with. Additionally, we can ask silly questions, present off-the-wall ideas, and basically just enjoy being a wild card to which others must decide how to react (and if they have read this little book they will enjoy it too). Therefore, our attitude is sound and intact. Zero planning only improves the entertainment value. It is absolutely nothing to get worried about, and our attitude remains constant and confident.

In summary, we have seen that acquiring the right attitude for a meeting involves many of the same principles as other forms of communication. Physical preparation concentrating on the environment, along with the planning that precedes it, gives us a sound foundation. Mental preparation, based on the confidence wrought by planning and physical preparation, gives us the correct, confident, indifferent attitude. Preparing for the unexpected centers on treating the whole notion of a chaotic meeting as what it is—entertainment. Next, we look at how that entertainment value, along with all the other events, comes together in the dynamics of the meeting itself.