Corporate fatigue is no stranger to those forced to slave away in offices all day long. Never-ending repetitive meetings, staring into a screen every waking moment and the constant urge to check and recheck emails can significantly tamper your mental health and impact overall productivity.
Here, we discuss ways to save yourself from turning your job into a hypochondriac’s playground.
Meetigue
“Meetigue” refers to the chronic fatigue and exhaustion that accompanies an endless chain of meetings that all seem to be relaying the same points with no resting conclusion in sight. As Tanvi Jain (name changed), an employee with four years of experience in the corporate world shares, “Having to be alert for every second of the meeting definitely takes a toll on me mentally and physically, as it would with anybody. I combat this by allowing myself five minutes of breathing time between meetings where I go for a brief walk around the office or I drown out the noise by listening to music in those five minutes. It helps me catch a break for myself and rejuvenate me enough to pay attention in the next meeting.”
Typenosis
We’ve all had a few too many days at the office where work is scarce but your pay-cheque demands you to wane away the hours in your cubicle. A mix of social pressure and the need to feel included often prompts many to indulge in “typenosis”- a situation where an employee pretends to be busy by typing absolute nonsense. “I have sometimes feigned being busy to take a breather, seeing me without work seems to be a magnet for bosses to hand more. To make the ten or so hours around work as productive, they forget about burnout existing,” reveals Rahul Sharma, an employee with two and half years of corporate experience. In order to battle this urge, try to engage your time productively rather than creating an illusion of work. Use your downtime to review your past performance, prepare a comprehensive plan for the future or simply even to observe others around you which may help you pick up a skill or two.
Tasknesia
In the long slew of tasks assigned to corporate employees on a daily basis it can be quite easy (and embarrassing) to forget a task the moment it is assigned; a condition that might be referred to as “tasknesia”. The perfect antidote to this disease can be found in a variety of active memory techniques and organization systems such as immediately recording or writing down a task the moment it's assigned to remember all the particulars, breaking down a task into smaller sub-goals, actively repeating your divisions over and over again, using a reminders app or a to-do list if needed and creating a planner to schedule your work appropriately.
CC-Osis
“CC-Osis” can refer to that tiny voice at the back of your mind that makes you uncontrollably feel the urge to CC everyone for the tiniest of emails. To counter this, take a moment to reflect and think of the people who are actually relevant to the information being shared and consider whether certain people can be informed using alternative modes of communication instead. Learn to maintain and respect professional boundaries with colleagues instead of constantly bombarding them with irrelevant information.
Zoombia
Sometimes you end up staring into a Zoom screen more times than you take a look at yourself in the mirror. This never-ending cycle of online calls is bound to expat a dose of lethargy in the sharpest of minds. Zoom fatigue can be battled by preferring phone calls or emails, only resorting to a video conference when necessary, turning off the camera when not required, taking short break periods in between and keeping meetings concise and to the point. Use the 20-20-20 rule i.e. every 20 minutes, focus on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds to keep your mind active.
Deadlinoma
Procrastination and last-minute tasks are a guilty pleasure for many. However, the panic and stress that comes attached with it may lead one to spiral into “deadlinoma”. Eliminating distractions from your work environment can help delay your urge to procrastinate. Break larger goals into achievable steps, think of how much more rested you’d feel after finishing a looming task and develop an accurate sense of accountability. “I give myself personal deadlines for tasks that I find interesting. For the tasks that are rather mundane or require a lot more motivation, I have found a way to gamify the process- I start my work playlist and challenge myself to finish the tasks by the end of a certain number of songs,” adds Tanvi.
Emailitis
Inflowing emails can often hit harder than a tsunami and the pressure to keep up with an overflowing inbox can lead to a severe case of “emailitis”. To combat this issue and preserve your mental well-being in the process, develop a schedule for checking and responding to your inbox along with adding in adequate periods of downtime or screen-free time. Turn off your notifications as much as possible and regularly check your average screen time to stay in touch with your own reality and personal progress.
Practice mindfulness regularly and understand your personal boundaries after suitable experimentation to spin passion into purpose.
