Ben MortonLeadership Trainer, Coach and Speaker

The Impact Of Back To Back Meetings On Your Focus

1 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:04

In this brief monologue, Ben Morton outlines three key drawbacks of scheduling meetings back-to-back. First, the sustained focus required for consecutive meetings creates ongoing stress, keeping individuals in a narrow, reactive state that is unhealthy over longer periods. Second, there is a mental lag when transitioning to the next meeting; although physically present, the mind is still occupied with the previous discussion, which can appear as distraction or rudeness to others. Third, the lack of even a brief pause eliminates valuable processing time, preventing reflection on what just occurred and reducing overall effectiveness.

Chapters

We leave one meeting and within seconds we're straight into the next, often still looking at our screen, still thinking about the meeting that's just happened. And that creates a few significant problems. Number one, stress naturally follows our focus. That's useful in short bursts, but not between meetings. If we stay locked onto a screen, we stay in that narrow reactive state. And secondly, there's a delay before you fully engage in the next conversation. Yes, you might be physically present, but mentally part of you is still in the meeting that you've just left, and that can come across to the people in the next meeting as you being distracted or even a little rude. And third, you lose the processing time because without even a minute to pause, you don't get to reflect on what just happened.