Why Zoom Meetings Make You Tired and What to Do About It with Dr. Amy Mednick

Do you struggle with the new normal that the pandemic has brought — constant Zoom calls, online webinars, and limited face-to-face interaction?

The big changes brought about by the pandemic altered how we function day-to-day. And many of these add stress to our life. So how do we adapt to these sudden big changes and face the new normal?

Dr. Amy Mednick is a psychiatrist working in her own private practice. She received her medical degree with Distinction in Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Brain & Cognitive Sciences from MIT. She specializes in the overlap between the humanities and neuroscience and leads a lecture series for psychiatric residents in training, social workers, and psychology trainees. She's been involved in both brain research and linguistic research and has authored articles in Clinical Psychiatry News. Her new book is Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections.

In this episode, Amy dives a little bit deeper and explains the unconscious cognitive change the pandemic has brought in our day-to-day functioning and interaction whether in the workplace or in life.

 

What you will learn from this episode:

Uncover why you feel more tired and exhausted with the sudden shift to the online world Explore different ways to overcome mental fatigue in the new normal Learn the three warning signs you need to watch for and the action you then need to take

 

“Do things that someone running from a tiger wouldn't do.”

-Dr. Amy Mednick

 

Valuable Free Resource:

How to humanize the new normal and make better virtual connections through promising strategies: Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connection

 

Topics Covered:

01:55 - How the Pandemic Started It All: Dr. Amy shares why she and Dr. Leonard decided to write the book

04:05 - Boundaries Between Anything: What made the pandemic hard for most people?

05:25 - The Warning Trio: Dr. Amy talks about the warning signs that our needs are not getting met

06:44 - Need for Safety: Why is it so hard for you to focus especially when everything’s transitioning virtual?

08:45 - Need for Understanding: Why do you end up more exhausted from WFH rather than F2F

09:49 - Need for Belonging: How can exclusion and isolation actually hurt us physically?

12:18 - Dr. Amy explains how the feeling of exclusion manifests in us

19:55 - How to Simplify the Complex: Dr. Amy shares how women leaders can address the complexity the pandemic brought in the workplace

22:29 - What can you do to help your team recharge, especially during the pandemic?

24:31 - Sending Virtual Hugs: Dr. Amy shares how can you create a sense of safety and belongingness within your workplace

25:18 - Does the remote work setting still overlooks women and their capabilities?

26:16 - Disconnecting Online, Connecting Offline: What can you do to avoid misunderstandings and disconnections in remote settings

29:55 - Take Care of Yourself First: Dr. Amy talks about the importance of self-care in lowering your team’s stress levels over Zoom and the new normal

36:10 - Dr. Amy shares why psychological safety is so important

 

Key Takeaways:

“We get used to anything. As humans, we adjust to anything. So, I think now it's a way of life. And it's getting easier.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“It's a lot of work to make sense of things. So, if you're exhausted at the end of a workday, it could be a warning sign that your brain is working excessively hard just to make sense of what is going on with others around you and that maybe there's an adjustment that you could make there.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“Mental fatigue, mental work, brain work affects your physical strength.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“Your brain does not like discrepancy. It does not like things it can't explain. So, when something doesn't match what it expected, like a laugh at a joke, it's going to work really hard to try to fix that.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“Anything extraneous that you can take away the overload is going to be really helpful.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“The remote experience is ambiguous enough. Do not add any ambiguity, make things extra, extra clear, extra explicit. Make goals explicit. Make the goals of meetings and the structure very explicit.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“Even though you're leading a team, you need to be okay. You need to be in a good place. You need to have safety and comfort. You need to be grounded so that you can connect.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

“You're going to be happier and more productive if you're giving your brain a chance to stop.” -Dr. Amy Mednick

 

Ways to Connect with Dr. Amy Mednick:

Website: https://www.dramymednick.com/ Book: Humanizing the Remote Experience through Leadership and Coaching: Strategies for Better Virtual Connections

 

Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown:

Website: https://www.sarahebrown.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/knowguides LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahebrownphd/