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If you’ve recently started working from home, you’re probably on a lot of video calls. You might also be wondering why video conferencing is so exhausting.
And according to workplace expert Gianpiero Petriglieri, video conferencing makes us work harder to processing visual cues. Zoom or other video conference (VC) platforms take a toll on your concentration because you’re probably looking at multiple people at the same time. You’re reading their expressions and body language, while clicking and reading other material too.
A long VC meeting can leave you drained, with no energy left for the work that’s waiting for you. But the following strategies can help you reduce Zoom-fatigue, improving your concentration and productivity.
A lesson in mindfulness
Got a million things on your mind when you sit down for a Zoom meeting? You’re not alone. But starting your meeting in a preoccupied state can lead to distractions and burn-out.
Instead, take a moment before each meeting to get settled. Position yourself comfortably and focus on your breathing for a few moments. This is a mindfulness technique that makes you calmer and more focused.
It’s all about point of view
It can be tempting to use gallery view so you can see everyone who’s in the “room” with you. This is a natural urge to replicate the feeling you get in an actual meeting. But gallery view can overwhelm your brain, as you try to read everyone’s visual signals at once.
Instead, speaker view can better recreate the way we interact in real meetings. You’ll focus your attention on the speaker, keeping everyone else in the periphery.
Multi-task at your own risk
We know what you’re thinking. You’re picturing all the emails you could reply to while your boss talks via Zoom. And unlike a real meeting, your boss would never know! But by multi-tasking in this way, you exert yourself much more than you would in a face-to-face meeting.
Resist the temptation to multi-task and make sure you keep your water bottle topped up. And after your Zoom meeting, you’ll have enough energy left to carry on with your workday.
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