How Not to Lose It When You’re Cut Off in Meetings: A 60-Second Reset

Boisterous Bob cuts you off in the meeting again. Or maybe it’s the VP who asks the curveball question that shows they weren’t paying attention.

Frustration rises and, before you know it, you’ve lost perspective. Despite your best intentions, you freeze up, shut down, or get lost in a mind spiral of beating yourself up because other people didn’t behave the way they should.

If that sounds familiar, please know this isn’t a sign you need to work harder. You just need to regain an objective perspective.

There are three types of perspective:

1. Subjective. When you’re stressed, your filters and biases are on overdrive. “I did something wrong to get this response” feels true because it’s an expression of your bias for excellence, but it also makes you feel tiny and terrible inside.

2. Relational. Seeing yourself through their lens. When others’ unconscious bias or blind spots trigger you, you can’t help but assume the worst possible lens. “I’m not valued.”

3. Objective. Stepping back to a neutral, third-party perspective.

Now pause for a second and ask yourself how you would rather feel the next time something upsetting happens in a work meeting.

Calm? Curious? Unbothered enough to lob a question right back at the VP?

Whatever state you picked, the fastest route there is a pattern interrupt, and my clients tell me this one gets them into that state surprisingly quickly.

Try this:

Imagine your attention floating up and above your head, so you can look down at the top of your head. If you can imagine seeing the color of your hair, wig, or beautifully bald crown from above, you’re doing it right.

Then imagine your attention floating back down into your body, all the way to your toes. If it feels funny, strange, warm, or like a trick to get you out of the stress cycle and into a curious mindset, you’re right on track.

Now imagine getting curious in the moment with Boisterous Bob or the inattentive executive. An objective perspective gets you out of the stress cycle and the mind spiral, helps you find the humor in the situation (Boisterous Bob really is a little ridiculous from that height), and keeps you from turning other people’s foibles into a personal failing.

It’s the first and vital step toward confident communication, and it’s 100% in your control.

If you’d like to go beyond this one step, book your free one-hour consultation with me.

What you’ll get: a custom coaching plan that gives you access to your creativity and your best thinking brain, so you have real choice and agency no matter who’s being rude in the meeting.

What I promise: You’ll experience a shift in your perspective and in how you feel. If you don’t, you don’t have to take one more step beyond the free consult. But I’m confident you will, and only once you’ve seen your custom step-by-step plan will we talk about whether coaching is the right investment for you.

Where it leads: You’ll be supported in making a decision (yes, no, or maybe) about getting 1:1 support from an expert coach who will help you marry brain and attention shifting techniques with proven, no-nonsense communication frameworks, so you can lob a question right back at Boisterous Bob or the VP.