Forget COVID, this is the real pandemic draining our energy

Before the pandemic, there is no doubt that internal meeting fatigue was already a thing. But as more people switched to meeting online, meetings that were already fatiguing unfortunately became even more so.

It’s no surprise that many people are evaluating their working options, and so many leaders are coming to us asking us for help with staff retention.

Probably one of the most common ambitions people have in coaching sessions is to find more consistent energy.

Regardless of the size of the company, when it comes to solving problems there are a number of complex interweaving systems and issues at play.

Zoom’s bad name has been getting worse, of late. The terms “Zoom fatigue” and “Zoom burnout” depict our current situation where, forced to work from home or grounded in our home countries, we have been using the video-conferencing tool as surrogate, and in that developed high levels of exhaustion.

Winter is creeping in and it’s a natural time to go inward. What does that mean really?

I find this to be a pretty useful definition of stress…..”Situations where you overestimate a problem while underestimating your ability to deal with it”.

In reviewing some of my blog posts I came across something I wrote at the end of New Zealand’s first lockdown of approximately 61/2  weeks. It was a note to myself really to remember the lessons I took out of being at home and watching the world slow down and settle in to some strange new reality.

We now know that just doing the next most urgent thing on your list is a sure-fire way to burn through mental energy way quicker than you should be doing.

Whether it’s Zoom or some other video conferencing option that you use, the principle is the same, a whole day on it or even just a few hours can leave you feeling short of a few energy credits.