How To Stay Alert In a Boring Meeting

1. Take it personally. Before the meeting, scan the agenda and list how the topics could affect your, your department, or the company as a whole.

“You’ll be more alert if you’re engaged in what’s going on,” says Gordon D. Logan, PhD, attention expert and professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

2. Tap your powers. In a recent study at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, college students were “awake but not fully alert” perked up significantly with acupressure. According to Richard Harris, PhD, who led the study, here’s what works best: Tap the top of your head two times a second for 3 to 5 minutes. Or, if you’d rather not attract coworkers’ stares, try massaging the back of your hand between your thumb and forefinger.

3. Ask questions. It programs you brain to be an active participant, rather than just a drowsy observer. If the speaker isn’t taking questions, jot them down on your notepad for later.

4. Sit near an overachiever. Yawning is contagious, and alertness may be too, Logan says, If someone in your group is nuts about the third-quarter cost overruns that put you to sleep, sit near her and let her excitement rub off.