I've got a quite a few meetings today, which are leaving me little time to blog.

Oh, meetings, you might be thinking sympathetically, don't they just eat up your day?

Sure, meetings might mean less blog time for me today, but trust me when I say that meetings aren't keeping me from getting any work done. Quite the contrary in fact; I come out of most meetings energized, with a renewed sense of purpose.

A few months ago, Seth Godin posted about meetings, namely how to make them work you. Here's my favorite passage:

When you go to the presentation in the auditorium, don't sit in the back row. It doesn't matter if you don't feel like sitting in the front row, you should. The presenter will do a better job. And if you're tired, work hard at smiling and making contact. The presenter will do better, especially if he's particularly boring and nervous.

Don't bring a bag of Fritos. Don't sit back. Don't close your eyes.

Seriously, it's not study hall. Rather than lying your head down on the desk, focus your attention and see what you can learn—and what you can lend to the meeting. Sure, it might take a little effort on your part...but they don't call it "work" for nothing. :)