One of the biggest time thieves is that meeting cultures often allow a meeting leader to invite not only those who are directly relevant to the purpose of the meeting, but also others who do not benefit from the meeting, where various considerations come into play. It becomes obvious when participants instead of listening during the meeting are working on their computer or smartphone. If you are at the wrong meeting, your brain simply turns off the desire to absorb what is being said. Research has shown that employees spend an average of 18 hours a week in meetings and only decline 14% of their meeting invitations, even though they prefer not to attend 31% of them.