On Tuesday afternoon, I had an energizing 2hr Zoom call with four colleagues. We moved ourselves in and out of breakout rooms, jamming in groups of 2-3 on a myriad of topics, and got a lot done. Waaay more than if we’d independently (tried to) crunch through Trello cards on our own time. Once time was up, we cheerfully disbanded and went back to other work.

If you’re “anti-meeting” without having tried co-working, you’re missing out!

In a co-working session, we share what’s on our plate and self-organize to make progress on those tasks together, with screenshare or collaborative tools like Google Docs or Mural. You can also rock up to the call empty-handed and simply make yourself useful. Nebulous topics are also welcome—a quick chat will bring it to a conclusion or give it the concreteness needed to turn it into a next step.

How often have you struggled to focus alone? Lost momentum trying to figure out where to start? The power of co-working sessions lies in removing the need for each person to crank that engine. Getting together makes it happen organically.

Think twice before canceling a call because you haven’t made enough progress. I’ve made this mistake many times.

I’ll feel guilty about not having enough to share, and cancel the call with a promise to… make the progress that I hadn’t managed to make. Or let too much time pass between sync points because there’s doesn’t seem to be enough material to warrant a call. This is an unfortunate way for a project to lose steam, despite our best intentions.

A co-working session is a great antidote. Let it help you move things forward and be reminded that this is a project that you’re excited about, with people that matter to you.