Attention Span and Work

[Icenii]

Posted elsewhere.

Was at an all-day work meeting yesterday and I find these absolutely exhausting. I feel different from the other people there (they are all male), but I feel like I just don't have the ideas they have, or I don't understand why they discuss certain things when I think it is unnecessary.
After a couple of hours, I really struggle with understanding what they are saying. I hear their words but it takes a huge amount of concentration to actively listen and understand their point. If it was written down I'd be fine. And then I don't feel like I can contribute. If there is more than one conversation, I can't concentrate on any of it.
But I managed to get to a fairly senior position, and now I think I can't do the role.
Anyone else feel like this?

We all have different styles of learning…my boss can struggle with listening to everything in Teams meetings unless it’s really structured with an agenda. With less formal meetings she just literally cannot understand what they are saying sometimes, is completely lost. Yet she is senior, and will be studying a Doctorate later this month ….

Yes, I need it to be structured, with an agenda, and things I can read beforehand. But it doesn't do well for appearances and I think it was noted yesterday that I wasn't fully contributing.

Why don't you try arranging an agenda before the meeting. Send it out in advance and ask people to contribute to the agenda and then you can comprehend what the point is before the meeting.

I'm the opposite, I can't concentrate on the written and need verbal discussions (not lectures or monologues) to understand.

It was being managed by others, and I did ask but what I was given was very loose. It was a 7 hour session. I'm starting to think that I am not as good as the others and shouldn't be there.

If you are new to the role then give your self time to get used to the types of conversation , language used, the teams strategic priorities etc.

However 7 hours is an incredibly long session - I'd struggle with that - particularly as people start to repeat themselves and go down rabbit holes etc without it being facilitated.

Were there enough breaks etc?

I've been in the team for 2 years and promoted about 3 months ago so I should know!

Sorry - keeps reverting back to username.

A 7 hour meeting is absolutely insane. Part of my job is to convene workshops and meetings and I never go beyond 3 hours at the max, preferably 2. 7 hours is bloody exhausting and I bet everyone was just spouting total bollocks.

They were debating the wording of a sentence for a while, and I shut off completely. I'm more of a doer rather than a discusser, but the high I go the more I need to be the latter.

Nobody concentrates for a full 7 hours. Most people tune out after around 45 minutes. I never call a meeting which lasts more than 90 minutes and even then there is a ten minute break in the middle.

I'm a big fan of ideas being contributed in writing beforehand too.

That said, it is partly practice and partly familiarity which makes it easier to go longer. If you are new in post then you are trying hard for all of it which is completely mentally exhausting so I think it will get better. I'd plan toggle it a year and then reassess. I think you will be surprised.

The aim is to have a structure to hang onto which is why an agenda is good. When you drift off (and we all do it) you can refocus and go "ah we must be on agenda item 3 now". I find most meetings incredibly boring and tend to drift in and out and I've been in a senior professional role for over 30 years.