Category: startup self care

5 Top Tips to Avoid Zoom Fatigue

Credit: Google Trends

While working at Facebook I interfaced with teams around the world on video, which was cool when mixed with real life meetings with fellow Facebook colleagues but now everything is on Zoom.

If you feel like you're getting a lot more tired at the EOD than pre-covid19 you’re not alone. Zoom fatigue is a real issue that many of us suffer from since March of this year.

Back in the 80s Sci Fi films showed video chatting as futuristic tech - their future is our right now but why are Zoom video chats tiring?

Well, in a real life meeting there is a lot more social stimulation, just being around other people can be invigorating. But in the silo of staring intently at a screen to retain the info can be exhausting.

Video Calls Make Us Lose Focus

Being able to do a quick whispered comment in a meeting to a colleague and then refocus doesn't have a Zoom equivalent. It's way too easy to lose our focus and go down the rabbit hole.

It starts innocently enough with one email, one Facebook messenger response, one text, or perhaps a Slack convo that we attempt to do all within a minute or two

10 minutes later we refocus, look up and have no idea what was being said and look like an ass to other conference attendees.

Not to worry! For all you social media marketers on Facebook, IG, Twitter, and business owners or remote workers I've got a few tips to help:

Here Are 5 Tips to Relieve Zoom Fatigue

1. Talk On The Phone - Yes This Is Still A Thing

Ask any preteen right now & they'll say phones are so 1999, but phone calls are still a thing for a lot of people, especially those who run their own businesses.

Phone calls are especially helpful to reduce Zoom fatigue. When on the phone with Mari Smith, the Queen of Facebook, we chatted about my upcoming feature in her Facebook Marketing Essentials course (FBME2).

Mari and I opted for a phone call instead of Zoom, because we have both been on so many Zoom calls recently due to covid 19. A phone call was a nice break from Zoom fatigue.

Here's a plug for her marketing course I'm featured in talking on Facebook policies: Mari Smith's Facebook Marketing Essentials 2

Back to relieving Zoom fatigue - if you're a pacer like me, talking when you walk helps get the creative juices flowing as well for new business ideas and conversation starters.

You can also see if there are any calls that you can switch to email or Slack if they aren't too too in-depth, this will help you recharge and refresh. Phone calls also let you do a little multitasking without appearing rude to your Zoom guests.

Saying something as simple as, "I'd appreciate a chance to recharge from staring at screens so much, mind if we switch to a phone call?"

Chances are, the other person is also facing Zoom fatigue and would enjoy a break too.

If you're a business consultant and give career advice, this can be achieved just as well over a phone call as on Zoom. You can even build in looking at a website a client has on your computer for a couple of minutes, giving feedback, and then stepping away from the screen.

2. Integrate Breaks Into Your Daily Schedule

Uninterrupted screen staring will tire us out so we need visual breaks to "refresh our mental screens" in a manner of speaking. Visual breaks help us refocus, if our brains are growing fatigued.

When you plan the day, build in a few breaks. If you have a longer Zoom call scheduled, make sure to take a few mini breaks and look away from your computer screen. Follow the 20 second rule, for every 20 minutes staring at the screen look at something 20 feet away, for 20 seconds.

Your friends, family, and business associates are going to be a lot more understanding than we may assume, if you both want to talk without having to look at the screen, to give your eyes a break for a moment (and perhaps add some carrots into your diet).

Sometimes things just get busy and you have nonstop Zoom calls, make sure that your scheduling app, daily planner Google Calendar or smart phone notepad (wherever you schedule the day at) also includes a buffer of 20-30 minutes between meetings.

This will give you a little bit of time to go for a 10 minute walk outside (walking increases productivity and creativity up to 60%), make a cup of coffee, meditate for 5 minutes, make a healthy snack and look away from the screen.

3. Notice Zoom Callers Backgrounds

Now this may sound silly at first, but you can actually reduce strain by simply taking a moment to look at the background of your Zoom counterparts.

Sometimes we stare at our own faces too much on Zoom calls, or other people's faces, but when you take a moment to notice the plants in your associates background, book titles on their bookshelf, it can give your eyes a break from staring at the same thing.

At the same time, if you're on a Zoom meeting with a bunch of people and they all have clutter in their backgrounds, don't focus on that. Even ask people not speaking to use avatars or suggest plain backgrounds either with a green screen and the Zoom virtual background feature or just for them to sit with a plain wall behind them.

4. Ensure There's Speaking Protocol for Social Zooms

Given that we are all on lockdown due to Covid-19 regulations often socializing nowadays is done on Zoom calls. But, if everyone is talking at once (especially when there's alcohol involved) this can lead to fatigue (and annoyance if your guests decide yell over others to be heard).

This can be solved by just simply verbalizing that taking turns is going to be followed. Now everyone gets a chance to talk and it isn't a room of people talking at once - this relieves screen fatigue.

When there aren't clear expectations outlined, the more alpha members of both genders jump in and compete for conversation space. By outlining expectations and format, this helps everyone out and reduces Zoom fatigue.

5. Reduce Multitasking

Multitasking IRL or on Zoom actually lessens our productivity. For those readers who are entrepreneurs and are familiar with 'serial entrepreneurship' you understand how spreading yourself too thin isn't as effective as laser-focusing on one project and nurturing it to perfection.

While it's tempting to think that you can use Zoom to do more in less time, research shows that trying to do a lot of things at once leads to a lesser performance.

This is due in part because you have to turn one part of your brain off and back on for the different types of tasks, which equals around a 40% dive in productivity.

According to the Stanford Memory Laboratory, those who multitask a lot can’t even remember stuff as well as those who choose to use tunnel vision productively, which makes sense given the experiences I've had and fellow startup founders in juggling 10 things at once leading to less quality than focusing on one thing or just a few things.

This also reminds me of another proof of concept moment in business history. Ebay started by dominating a small market of those who liked beanie babies, Amazon started with just books.

It was by focusing on a smaller area first, and getting expert level at this that lead to these companies' success and later expansion to other markets. You can read more about this in the blog on What Made Amazon & eBay So Successful (it's all in the power of dominating sub niches).

They key take away here is that when you're on a Zoom call, it'll be helpful to close the other tabs you have open and put away your smart phone. Be here now. Distractions can wait.
Practice these 5 tips and you'll find it refreshing to relieve the Zoom fatigue as we adapt to the new normal. By the end of 2021 I predict we'll have things more or less back to normal.
In the meantime I hope you've found these steps helpful. Do you have anything you've done to help with Zoom fatigue that isn't on this list or have a story about Zoom fatigue you want to share?

Comment below!

. . .

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How A Haiku Changed How I Thought About Everything

Credit: Artly Snuff

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

"Breaking the silence

Of an ancient pond,

A frog jumped into water —

A deep resonance."

I saw this haiku and it struck me as such a contrast to the chaos spinning around us all right now.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) composed it at a haiku gathering in 1686, and while many haiku poets at the time were focused on the sound of frogs croaking, depicted in poems, Basho chose to focus on the sound of water.

The thing is, this 16th century poet wasn't seeing a pond or the frog.He made the world of silence which was broken by a small creature in his mind.

There was something about this utter simplicity, free of the complications of today's world that struck me. It felt like the places our minds go is sometimes limited by pre-existing narratives. Invisible prisons we make in thought-form.

The habits of familiar neural pathways dictate to us what we should be thinking about and in what way we should think about the creations of our own mind.

What Many of Us Have Decided...

The way we choose to think about the world, ourselves and what's possible write the script for our future actions. What is possible always remains to be seen yet many of us have already decided what we can and can't do.

This is especially relevant in the art of innovation in workplace. Time are changing so rapidly now, the structure of society, commerce, socializing, economics, city planning and more is all being re-written on the fly.

Many business owners lament on their perceived hopeless future given the restrictions put in place to protect public safety - which the debate is still rampant on how this is being done.

The entrepreneurs, like myself, will glibly say, "Pivot, adapt, now is the time!" but I think we forget sometimes that not everyone thinks like an entrepreneur.

Many entrepreneurs don't think like an entrepreneur - they still have the ingrained corporate life dictating what they are capable of and where they see or don't see possibilities.

And to be fair, not every industry can adapt as easily. Dine in restaurants that don't just provide food, but the ambiance and the lived experience of being there.

You can't exactly translate this to curbside pick ups and e-commerce store fronts online. In the last blog I interviewed Josh Brown, owner of Genuine Joe Coffeehouse and we talked of his struggles to stay in business.

I suggested selling whole coffee beans in bulk online, and he talked about the strong community that keeps him afloat needs to be able to walk up and order at the shop.

That's part of what Genuine Joe provides and there is a lot more involved in pivoting to selling whole beans in 1 pound bags online, including the margins for the cost of shipping.

I think my suggestion made too many assumptions without thinking about this model of business more.

I also feel many of us in the startup world take mindset for granted. It's easy for a lot of us to say, "Just pivot, and adapt!" because of how we think and are trained to think.

It's not easy to rewrite the way a mind works or thinks about things, in order to see more opportunities, as it seems to some of us already well adapted to this lifestyle.

The Art of Headspace

Creating space inside our minds to grow and re-examine thought patterns and habits will not only help us grow in business but also develop our perception.

Each year, since I started actively working on cultivating and deepening the field of vision and perceptive powers of who I am, who others are, how they see the world, themselves, me and our interdependent relations it's like lifting a veil.

Each year more is seen. The eyes perceive more depth to each situation, more context is noticed for how and why things come to be the way they are.

This frees me to improve, move the needle on personal and professional goals. This past week alone, I launched 2 new businesses, after starting an e-commerce business 2 weeks ago.

Basho's Frog haiku was said to have been created when Basho’s Zen master, Boncho, visited him. According to legend, the master asked Basho a koan-like question (which is a riddle without an answer).

Basho, decided not to answer directly or even try to. He replied instead with “a frog jumps into, the sound of water.”

Life doesn't always make sense. There isn't always a linear pathway to solutions to customer dilemmas or to our own lives and their meandering pathways into the future.

How we choose to think about a problem has just as much power to solve it as the effort we make to create solutions. (Here's an interesting montage of Basho's journey)

This is true everywhere for everyone but it isn't the default go to method for problem solving.

Things get much easier when we can think about how we are thinking and shift perspectives. This is why it's good to bounce ideas off associates and friends and family.

It may not even be what they say, but how they say it, or the way they choose to look at something that triggers that "ah ha" moment for us.

How We Think About How We Think

The Frog Haiku is something that stopped my scrolling this morning and made me think about how I think and the value in changing perspectives to achieve enlightenment.

Enlightenment in the sense of realizing new things that our perception had missed before which can improve our business and enjoyment of life.

Just a few thoughts to marinate on Monday. Hope the rest of your week goes well. Any favorite poems or writings that changed your perspective recently?

. . .

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The Secret Power of Follow Up Questions

Right now it is especially important to stop looking at TikTok & develop the skill of active listening.

Customer feedback is often ignored and profits are lost because a Startup founder is too attached to an old idea that is no longer feasible in today’s market.

We’ve got black lives matters protests, we’ve got different opinions on COVID-19, opinions on how the government is handling it...

What they should be doing what they shouldn’t be doing..blah blah blah. It's so much!

When you find yourself going down a black hole of madness and negativity there is another option:

Instead of just waiting for someone to stop talking and eagerly decide exactly who they are and tell them this forcefully, we can also choose to simply pause. Ask a few questions to clarify their point of view.

We can exchange the eagerness to speak our opinion for curiosity.

The Art of Follow Up Questions

I believe that right now many of us have lost the art of follow-up questions.

I was hanging out with a friend I’ve known since childhood and I share the exciting news of one of the biggest moments of my life, of launching my second business in e-commerce.

He asked zero follow-up questions and made me feel like I hadn’t even spoken. And I know honestly reflecting there were moments as a teen, I was so eager to share something that didn’t notice the other person had just shared something meaningful.

The good thing about perspective is you can use it to examine itself. Instead of the knee-jerk reaction many have to constructive feedback to say, “Well I guess I failed at that too.” < end convo > we have the amazing quality of trying just a little harder.

Studies Show That...

Right now is a great time to examine perspectives, especially our own, and see how we can do better, be better than just mediocre.

The Harvard Business Review did a study on active listening that revealed some key insights here.

Credit: Harvard Business Review

Imagine that - when someone gives you feedback and sounds judgmental af you don't receive their feedback too well. On the flip side, when feedback is delivered from someone who is active listening, it is 10 times more well received.

The study the Harvard Business Review did demonstrates this isn't just a theory but statistically proven true time after time. One lab experiment assigned 112 undergraduate students to be speaker or listener.

Another lab experiment done with 114 undergraduates at a business school. The students were told to talk about their future plans and each student was paired with poor, moderate and good listeners. This is what they found:

Credit: Harvard Business Review

Our customers deserve better too. Many are buying on debts they can’t pay back and it’s not too much to ask for active listening to play a role in the customer experience.

The Pay Off is Big

The teenage version of ourselves isn’t who we are today - we are fully capable of asking follow up questions to demonstrate sincere interest in our clientele.

And, the added perks of doing so are many. The small amount of energy invested in being curious, will often reduce conflict, and increase CTV.

The range of environments and businesses that benefit from follow up questions and active listening is well documented. In the medical peer-reviewed Electron Physician journal a study revealed that:

"One of the important causes of medical errors and unintentional harm to patients is ineffective communication. Active listening does not come naturally to most of us, and, like other communication skills, it must be learned and developed."

I definitely don't want a doctor to operate on the wrong body part because he didn't listen well! Asking follow up questions derived from sincerely listening to someone has tremendous value.

This journal also makes the important observation - active listening doesn't always come naturally.

You do have to make an effort to develop it to benefit from these skills. But, the pay off is huge:

Better business deals, better converting sales funnel, positive social circles and high-power networking.

Appreciated & Respected

I’ve learned since being a child, the value in asking follow-up questions. I've learned the value of active listening and making other people feel appreciated and respected.

Personally & professionally.

Of course, I'm still working on perfecting it but, I'm aware of where the work needs to be done which is where the first battle is won.

When someone doesn't feel appreciated or respected who's shopping at your store or contracting your service you reduce their loyalty and chance they'll give you repeat business.

In social circles, this can cause unnecessary rifts that are easier to prevent than repair.

That’s why it’s important right now to just take a moment and pause before we respond to other people.

This helps us in our business doing market research on what the customers really want instead of our assumption of how we can solve their pain points.

What are the underlying circumstances of a pain point?

What second solution are they trying to solve in addition to the first?

These sort of questions are not asked nor are they answered when we are quick to assume that we know what another person feels, thinks, or believes.

We won't know a prospects' wants and needs unless we ask follow-up questions.

Omitting this very crucial part of social interaction is what leads very good people who used to be great friends to sometimes never even speak again because they take a hard stance on one issue, and refuse to listen to each other.

With the heightened emotion, panic, fear and everything else going on right now the reptile part of our animal brain that dictates the flight or fight response just assumes that if someone doesn’t agree with us about something like Covid they must be a danger to be avoided.

While this can be understandable if someone who tested positive is out shaking hands and kissing babies and refuses to socially distance - which would be irresponsible and unfair to other people who don’t want to get sick-

In other circumstances when it’s merely an intellectual debate those follow-up questions help us to understand why someone feels the way they feel.

You will discover using the secret power of follow up questions, pausing your first reaction, that you have more in common with another person than you think you do.

And they’ll hear your point of view better if you listen first. #facts

Great Follow Up Questions To Ask

So the next time you find yourself disagreeing with someone try waiting to share your opinion. First ask follow-up questions like:

What led you to believe this?

Is that so?

What do you think of other people that disagree with this point of view?

Do you think other people may have doubts about that?

What would you say to someone that doubted that this is the best approach?

Does their opinion have any merit?

Is there anything you think you should say to someone that you respect but may not share your opinion on this topic?

Do you have any doubts about the position you’ve taken on this issue?

In Conclusion...

By simply asking people for more information you show them that you are sincerely interested in understanding why they think the way they do instead of demonstrating to them that your only interest is in hearing yourself speak or being right or just scoring points in a conversation or debate.

And we need more constructive solution-focused conversations right now, less aimless arguing.

Asking questions through active listening also shows that you respect the other person.

How many times has a sales agent tried to pitch you over the phone, or at a car dealership or at Best Buy and was more concerned with getting to the end of their pitch than hearing you?

Annoying right?

Not just annoying - it’s ineffective. The sales agents that pause and listen to what the potential customer is actually saying convert at much higher rates because they’ve made people feel appreciated and respected.

Now that you’re taking the time to really ask why they feel the way they feel instead of assuming you already know everything about them because of one word that triggered you - everyone feels better.

It also empowers you to overcome misconceptions the other person may have had about you. As well as clear up misunderstandings you had about the other person.

So ask follow up questions!

It allows us to bridge gaps rather than burn bridges which is always a lot more advantageous.

Do you have a time you wish someone listened to you better as a customer or personally?

. . .

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Remembering Why We Do This

It's easy to get stuck in auto pilot - even our reaction to the news, major events and business developments can be automated.

Whirling into chaos, we numb out and forget our big Why, for why we do this. Why we started a business, why we continue to try to improve it and ourselves and we we hope for positive change if everything seems to be burning like the Notre Dame.

When it rains we run outside to roll up our car windows, adrenalin spikes and that one task is all we focus on.

I feel like since the global shut down of cities, the echo chamber on C19 has become a little too dominating, and a message of hopelessness. The reality is, there are good moments that still happen.

Every day.

Pictured above is a man in New Jersey who used a sign to thank hospital workers for saving his wife's life.

"Thank you all in emergency for saving my wife's life," the man wrote on his sign. "I love you all."
The nurse who snapped the photo is Allison Swendsen, who later shared the photo on Instagram and Twitter, where it quickly went viral.

When you are running your own business, crunching numbers, fighting with Facebook when they disable your ad account for no reason at all - it's hard sometimes to touch base with reality.

It's tempting to get sucked into the negative news vortex as well. But we are more productive when we nourish heart smarts and take time out for self care.

We function better, make more informed decisions and see more options open when there is also a little extra inner space that comes from setting the intention to genuinely care about your community, your customers and yes...your self.

A friend of mine recently told me that she felt like with all my big plans, launching a second business, being mentored by millionaires in ecom, writing a book - that I had forgotten to actually love myself.

It felt like I was being put on the spot and forced to be vulnerable while my attention was more focused on impressing this attractive girl I went to UT with, telling her all my grand designs.

She had a point - and I took it seriously.

It wasn't something that I vaguely considered - I set a specific intention to meditate on this during a break in one of my work days building my eCommerce store.

I focused on good moments that happened in my life, the things I've accomplished that I can celebrate as being uniquely me. Not just college degrees or starting businesses but repaired friendships, kind acts for others and developing self awareness.

My heart, which was weighed down with over concern for national issues, the pandemic, people I couldn't help but want to save - felt a release. The attachment lessened to trying to change things I couldn't, at least at this moment.

Afterwards, I got some great news for my business and even better developments unveiled themselves for my new startup.

It isn't a coincidence - there is a causal relationship between our mind state and emotions, and the quality ranking of business decisions -personally & professionally.

According to the Harvard Health Blog, self-care through exercise changes the brain to improve thinking skills:

"Exercise helps memory and thinking through both direct and indirect means."

"The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance, reduce inflammation, & stimulate the release of growth factors—chemicals in the brain that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain, and even the abundance and survival of new brain cells. Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep, and reduces stress and anxiety."

"Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment."

This is good to remember as we all teach ourselves how to cope with lockdown as discussed in Monday's blog.

Need ideas for how to change up your self-care rituals or want to start from scratch?

Here are 80 Self Care Ideas which include:

√ Journaling
√ Taking time for slow contemplative morning coffee
√ Bookclubs
√ Exchanging social media time for nature time outside
√ Getting up early and reading inspirational books

That man in New Jerz, with his simple sign but powerful message, was so affected by the work done by nurses at that hospital, and his wife's life was saved, that he took the time to share this message even with social distancing.

The nurses that saw this both on social media and at the hospital went to work the next day, even more dedicated to saving lives and feeling glad they are appreciated.

Turns out compassion is great for business.

So take a moment to reflect on why you should love yourself and appreciate the efforts you've taken to get here today.

This will improve your mood, reduce stress and help you make even more strategic choices with better outcomes in your business.

What experiences have you had that give you hope? Comment below!

. . .

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