Our Top 5 Tips for Overcoming Zoom Fatigue – Career Transform

2020 and the year of Zoom…

This year has turned into a “year of video meetings.” For most of us, the transition from working in the office to working from home, has meant huge numbers of virtual interactions, all taking place in front of a screen.

While this incredible technology has helped us stay connected and stay employed, there have been some surprising negative impacts, particularly around our overall wellbeing and work-life balance.

Work / life cross over…

The physical separation between work and home (which in 2019 a lot of sydneysiders were finding was eating into their day…) is now non-existent. This has meant that we are working in our private spaces, creating increasingly longer work days, and more and more difficulty being present for our “family” time. Energy levels are depleted and “zoom fatigue” sets in, resulting in significantly increased stress levels.

How do we manage this?

In order to maintain some kind of control over this, and to manage our dwindling energy supplies, we need to create some strategies to help us maintain our energy and stay focussed on what’s important…. So here are some top tips…..

Tip 1: Block Time

Add ‘No-Meeting’ timeblocks to your calendar
Set aside time without interruptions for completing tasks during your work day. It is helpful to allocate time for finishing things on your to-do list!

Tip 2: Zoom out

Designate ‘Meeting-Free’ Time
Zoom has become a lexicon of our lives during these unprecedented times, so it is best to schedule time away from video calls! This is a perfect time to make sure you are going for short walks in between completing tasks for the day. It makes a huge difference to get active and enjoy the outdoors.

Tip 3: Take Breaks

Stand up and stretch between meetings
Back when we could have face-to-face meetings, we could stand up and shake hands, before walking out the door to our next meeting. When videoconferencing, it is easy to find ourselves sitting down for hours on end. Try to plan your meetings to finish 5 minutes early, so you can get up and walk around before the next one.

Tip 4: Stop multitasking during meetings

In a normal meeting, you have to focus on who is speaking and give them your full attention. Over zoom, it’s easy to lose concentration, and start to touch on other tasks. By committing to being professional during video chats like you would in real life, you will be able to listen and create a meaningful connection with the other person, not to mention actually getting more out of the meeting in the first place!

Tip 5: Organise your screen

Rather than having multiple tabs open during video chats, use the fullscreen view and engage with what everyone is saying. If you find that you frequently focus on yourself and how you look when videoconferencing, you can hide self-view and see the other meeting participants facing you.

So … make sure you look after yourself…

We will all need to keep connecting, but these easy tips will help keep your energy up while doing so and there has never been a time where authentic connection has been more important!

Posted by Career Transform