A Hacker News reader asked a question I'm sure many of us can relate to: Why do I struggle to follow corporate meetings? There are some good answers and discussion in the thread but I think the original post hit the nail on the head when it says:

"Am I the only one who experiences this? I can't work out if there's a part of my brain that's missing that prevents me from understanding what's being discussed in these meetings or if this is a common experience. I'm very practically minded which probably doesn't help, but I worry I'm not making enough of an effort to understand what's happening in the business outside my personal bubble."

There are definitely people who have a knack for understanding things (or, as the top comment alludes to, pretending to understand things) in a certain context.

For example, I like Twitter and I hate Pinterest. I know they're different apps for different purposes, but I find Pinterest confusing and messy, whereas Twitter is more linear and doesn't feel as overwhelming and purposeless as Pinterest does.

It's funny that the original post says "I'm very practically minded which probably doesn't help." But it does help! It means you want to discuss things that have value, not things that sound abstract and foreign.

Corporate meetings can elicit the same brain response from me. They feel too complex, purposeless, and without real-world value. That doesn't mean they aren't valuable, they just feel that way to certain people. So if you feel similar, you might find some solace in the answers in that thread, which also includes some good explanations as to why such meetings do make sense to certain people.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!