Most meetings are a waste of time.

You go in with your plan, you start to discuss the issues on your list … and somehow the focus of the meetings gets chopped and splinters into a thousand tangents. Surely, you’ve encountered this before?

At that point you have to make a choice. You can be the bad ass and slam your fist on the table and say “ENOUGH! Let’s focus” or you can sit back hoping that all the bantering and meaningless small talk will end shortly. The problem with the latter is that it just never seems to end and time continues to tick-a-way.

So unless you’re hardcore enough to jump right in front of that out of control train and tell it to stop … well, you’re pretty much screwed.

I’ve jumped in front of that train several times over the years when my blood pressure couldn’t take listening to that bantering buzz any longer. The train has also flattened me like a penny on the tracks.

There’s got to be a better way. Someone should come up with a word that everyone knows that can quickly diffuse the situation when meetings get off track. It’s got to be a bit funny and not too blunt … but clear enough that people know when they hear it it’s time to get back to the real business on the table.

Or maybe, just maybe, more of us just need to start slamming our fists on the table to save time and keep everyone sane.