One trick to combat burnout

Amy Shearn
Forge
Published in
Sent as a

Newsletter

1 min readMar 22, 2021

📱Today’s tip: Put away your smartphone during your meetings.

The Medium family recently welcomed a new addition: Index, a publication all about work. In one of the site’s inaugural posts, Hannah Clark Steiman writes about the mysterious way video meetings seem to be even more exhausting than in-person meetings ever were. The reason? Our brains can’t handle all the multitasking we think we’re capable of doing. On video chats, we either try to multitask or we mentally work to resist multitasking, which is just as hard on our brains.

Here’s one easy fix: Put your smartphone away. Studies have shown that even having your smartphone visible nearby during a meeting can make it more difficult to concentrate. Stash your phone in another room and give yourself permission to just focus on the meeting — that’s your job until the meeting is over.

💻 More from Forge on fighting burnout:

Burnout Is Now Our Default State
Read More>>

How to Get Over Burnout When You Can’t Take Time Off
Read More>>

We Are All the Burnout Generation
Read More>>

The Forge Daily Tip is sent every morning via email. ☀️ Subscribe to the Forge Daily Tip here.

You’re subscribed to receive emails from Forge. You can adjust your settings via the link at the bottom of this email.

--

--

Amy Shearn
Forge

Formerly: Editor of Creators Hub, Human Parts // Ongoingly: Novelist, Essayist, Person