Guide · after-work · 3 min read
The five minutes after a difficult meeting, without the usual advice, when you have more time than usual
Back-to-back meetings leave no room to come down. Five deliberate minutes changes the next hour.
Start here
None of this is glamorous. All of it is doable, which matters more.
This is the longer version, for a day with some slack in it.
If you only do one thing from this page, do the first point below. It is first because it removes the most friction for the least effort.
What helps
Move: stairs, a corridor, a walk to get water. The physical reset is faster than the mental one.
If something was said that stung, note it and decide to deal with it tomorrow. Most things look smaller after a night.
Do not replay it in your head with better answers. That rehearsal is satisfying and completely useless.
What to do when it does not work
If you have to send a reply, draft it and wait an hour. Angry emails written in five minutes take weeks to undo.
Write down what actually happened, not what you felt about it. The two get mixed up within about ten minutes.
Do not go straight into the next thing. Even sixty seconds of standing up changes how you carry the last meeting into the next one.
A note on effort
Stay with what you can actually feel.
Questions people ask
What if I need to speak up in the meeting?
Prepare one sentence in advance. Most people who cannot speak up are missing an opening line, not courage.
Written for people who want the practical version. No accounts, no tracking, no newsletter wall.