The Freedom of a Cancelled Meeting
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Why do canceled meetings feel so liberating?
You work hard to strike the right amount of intelligence and ignorance. The Last Show with David Cooper. In terms of instant relief, canceling plans is like heroin, said comedian John Mulaney. And it turns out he might have been onto something because when a work meeting gets canceled, you feel liberated. And research shows that your brand new free hour feels bigger, richer, full of possibility. I'm here with someone who has studied this. She's a marketing professor at Rutgers Business School, and her name is Gabby Tonietto. Gabby, welcome to the show.
Thanks so much for having me.
I love that you did a research paper into canceled meetings.
What psychological effects do canceled plans have on us?
What motivated this? Are you yourself someone who just feels on a high when a meeting gets canceled?
100%. I mean, and I just think it's something that so many of us, like it resonates. I mean, to be honest, like no offense even to my friends and family, but I think even canceled fun plans can lead to just that sense of relief. Maybe that's my introverted side speaking. But no, I mean, we find that just in general, whatever it is that's getting canceled, even things that you wanted to do, there's that silver lining of, ooh, but I have time now and I get to decide what to do with this time. And it feels bigger. It feels like more is possible.
How does expectation influence our perception of free time?
But we get time all the time. Why does time, that is free time, and I know I'm using the word time too many times. Oh, God, I can't stop. Why does this free hour or free 30 minutes when plans get canceled, when a meeting gets canceled, why does it feel so much better than just a regular I woke up and I got 30 minutes on the clock?
Yeah, it's really about this change from our expectation, right? So in our studies, what we compared was exactly what you're saying, where you like expect to have 30 minutes, you know that it's there versus something gets canceled or ends early. And you go from the expectation of I'm not going to have time to suddenly now I do. And we do find it's that change from our expectations that leads to these psychological and behavioral outcomes.
I love that you call it windfall time. I love that phrase.
What is 'windfall time' and how does it affect productivity?
What counts as windfall time? Is it just a canceled meeting or is it anything? Is it a canceled dinner, a canceled friend, a hangout, anything?
Pretty much anything as long as it's that change from our expectation. Got it. Right. So, you know, if we expect to gain time, like we have a ton of forewarning or something gets canceled way out into the future, it's going to feel like less of a gain. It's going to be less of that windfall than that sudden. I was completely expecting to be booked up for the next hour. And now I have this time to decide what to do.
Is there a difference in productivity during unexpected free time?
I find myself more productive in those free hours. Like I can get more work done during a canceled meeting hour than just a regular hour where I might like, you know, browse on my phone or like go have a snack or just go to the bathroom or whatever it is. Is that a common experience that people with this extra time, this windfall time are in fact more productive?
Well, they can be. And there is some prior research that suggests that we sort of gravitate towards leisure when we have like really unexpected windfalls of time. But what we were adding to this perspective is this idea of essentially once you've decided, like, am I going to take a break or am I going to work? Once that decision is out of the way, people gravitate towards bigger activities, right? So if you decide that you're going to work, then you're like, I'm going to tackle that longer task or something that I've kind of been putting off. And you can be more productive.
Why do we experience a thrill when a meeting is canceled?
But if you decide like, oh, you know what, I'm going to take it easy, you can actually really slow down and sort of stretch out. Say, you know, a coffee break becomes, you know, goes from a quick, grab coffee down the hall, you know, in a break room to, you know what, I will walk to a coffee shop and, you know, take an extra 10 minutes, you know, to have a latte instead. So I think certainly some people are going to resonate with your perspective.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why do canceled meetings feel so liberating?
0:05–0:54
2
What psychological effects do canceled plans have on us?
0:54–1:33
3
How does expectation influence our perception of free time?
1:33–2:22
4
What is 'windfall time' and how does it affect productivity?
2:22–2:55
5
Is there a difference in productivity during unexpected free time?
2:55–3:51
6
Why do we experience a thrill when a meeting is canceled?
3:51–4:38
7
How does our perception of time change with unexpected free time?
4:38–5:34
8
What are the implications of manipulating meeting schedules for employee morale?
5:34–8:50
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Last Show with David Cooper
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