Now that we're all spending many many hours every day on video chat, we're discovering it's exhausting! Try one or all of these 5 quick hacks to keep your energy up.
I think we've all learnt now that on the days we're working from home, we still need to create an experience of commuting to work. It helps our brain separate work from home and avoid the feeling that work is all we do - so try getting out of those pj's, go for a walk around the block as your mini commute and have a space which is just for work (even if that's just unpacking and packing up your laptop every day).
Breathe... - there is really interesting research coming out that when we're on technology our breathing is much shallower than it should be. This lack of oxygen is a key cause of your exhaustion. Pop a little post-it on your laptop to remind you to take three deep breaths and do that multiple times a day.
Stand up - sitting down all day contributes to shallow breathing and it also contributes to poor circulation and poor posture. Get yourself up, pop your laptop on a pile of books and run those video calls standing up.
Get your screen at the right height - how many people have you seen on video chats where all you can see is their forehead or up their nose? All of this suggests more bad posture, which leads to a feeling of exhaustion. It's not hard, get yourself a pile of books or a box and make sure your camera is at eye level. It makes for a better experience for everyone (and makes you look like you know what you're doing with this new fangled technology...)
Try turning your video off - it feels intense looking at all of those people and seeing them all stare back at little old you. In fact, of course, they are also staring at a screen of 11 people feeling like everyone is staring back at them. Instead, turn your video off for five minutes each meeting and concentrate instead on listening to what your colleagues are saying, the tone of their voice and seek to hear the unsaid messages that might be getting lost in the technology.
Check out this great post for more from Dr Susan Pollack https://www.tenpercent.com/meditationweeklyblog/zoomapnea