Zoom Fatigue, Unread Emails, and Work Stress: These 3 Tips Can Help Spring-Clean Your Work Life
Jennifer talks with Fortune Well about the importance of spring cleaning your work life to improve productivity and well-being. Jennifer highlights three key areas to focus on: email management, controlling meeting fatigue, and prioritizing work-life balance.
Email Management:
Jennifer talks about addressing pain points in your inbox, such as unnecessary newsletter subscriptions or unorganized emails.
To declutter, unsubscribe from 50 email lists over two weeks by removing your name from five each morning.
Create themed folders or a "do" folder to prioritize and organize emails.
Consider discussing with your manager or team to find more effective ways to streamline communication, such as using different communication platforms or opting for phone calls instead of emails.
Controlling Meeting Fatigue:
Post-pandemic hybrid work environments often involve digital calls, leading to meeting fatigue, so Jennifer advises reassessing the types and quantity of meetings to relieve fatigue.
Ask your team about optimal downtime, cutting unnecessary meetings, shortening meetings to 15 minutes, being strict on agendas, and finding alternative ways to solve problems without meetings.
Embrace a lean mindset and consider implementing policies to limit meetings, as seen in Jennifer’s example of Shopify freeing up 95,000 hours for employees.
Prioritizing Work-Life Balance:
Jennifer emphasizes the importance of a healthy work-life balance for increased energy, engagement, and happiness.
Check in with yourself to identify self-imposed pressures and consider practicing a slow, relaxing morning routine.
Limit multitasking and try working without distractions for 20 minutes followed by a 5-minute break.
Learn to manage up by communicating with your manager about workload and ideal timelines.
Reframe how you think about work and assign urgency to tasks, allowing yourself to disconnect and prioritize personal joy and relationships.
By implementing these strategies, individuals can improve efficiency, well-being, and overall satisfaction in their work.
Jennifer Moss is an award-winning author, international speaker, and globally recognized workplace strategist. She is the author of, Unlocking Happiness at Work, The Burnout Epidemic, and her latest book, Why Are We Here, launches Dec. 3, 2024.