This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Welcome to a new week. So glad you're here. Thank you for joining me. My name is Chris Guillebeau. The program is Sadosle School.
Now, one of the unique problems that 2020 has presented, which, you know, there's no shortage of those, but this is a big one. It's affected millions of people. It's the fact that work life and routines have changed. And as I said, they have changed for so many folks. It's hard enough to adjust to working from home on your own, if you haven't done that before.
Like we used to have questions about people who are beginning this transition. Like they've always kind of gone to a job and now they're starting to work on their own or they actually make the leap to working, you know, full-time self-employment. That's what we used to talk about over the past three years. Well, 2020 has changed everything. Now it's not just that one person.
Often, many cases, like if you live with someone who also works from home now, that's even more of an adjustment. If you have kids who are now going to school remotely or at least attempting to go to school remotely, I know that's been a challenge for so many people, then the pressure becomes even more next level. You know, there's so many households out there that have two parents that are both working online, trying to do calls all the time, and at least one kid, sometimes multiple kids, all trying to get online to connect to their virtual classrooms and such. So first of all, my heart goes out to everybody in that situation. I know some families have been able to turn this into something positive, but I think it's also fair to say that lots of other families have been really stressed out.
Okay, so today's caller is experiencing Zoom fatigue. Zoom fatigue, the Zoom flu, I guess you could call it, which is also pertinent to this year. After so many hours spent in online meetings for her job, which she has to do all day, where does she find the energy to work on something for herself? And she says, "Help, I'm too tired from Zoom to do anything else." Look, I get it, I totally relate. I know many of our listeners do as well.
So that's what we're talking about today right after this quick message. [Music]
Hi, this is Kelsey from Thousand Oaks. And I've been listening to the show for a couple of years now. Thanks for the great puns and helpful advice. When 2020 started, I had start a side hustle on my list of goals.
I was eager and excited and I worked on different ideas throughout the spring. One of my first plans won't work now because of COVID. So I've tried to think of others. My challenge is that I'm now working remotely and spending six hours a day or more on Zoom. When I finish, the last thing I wanna do is spend more time online.
I don't see this changing for me any time in the near future. So should I put my other plans on hold or is there a way to persevere? Thanks for your help. [Music]
Hey Kelsey, thank you for the message. Oh, by the way, I think you're on mute now.
There's a little button you have to press. There's a button at the bottom. No, you have to turn your camera on also and you don't need to share your screen actually. Oh wait, I thought we were on a Zoom call there. Nevermind.
Look, Zoom fatigue is real. Zoom fatigue is real, the Zoom flu. I know that Kelsey is not the only one experiencing it. And of course it's not just about Zoom. It could be Microsoft Teams or however you are working online dealing with all these challenging circumstances.
So I was trying to think about this and I was like, I think the first thing is just to acknowledge this that there are lots of people out there in this situation. And like, if you have felt discouraged, if you have felt like, man, I was really gonna make this my year of the side hustle, you know, it's okay. Like give yourself a little bit of grace. That's probably the first and most important thing. I don't wanna say just power through because that's not sustainable.
So I think you have a couple of different approaches in this situation. One is, you know, if you're in that idea phase where you're looking at different ideas, is it possible to choose something that requires less screen time? Or less online meeting time or whatever it is that you feel is bringing you the most fatigue there. And it may not be, but just a thought. And then secondly, whatever it is, you know, is there a way you can just work slowly and steadily?
I'm a big fan of like saying, okay, 20 to 30 minutes a day, if I do one task, it's not just email or, you know, some kind of administrative function, but one task that is advancing my business or trying to actually make progress on something significant, you know, over time, you really can accomplish a lot. And in the side hustle book from idea to income in 27 days, the whole point there is like, you just do a little bit each day, right? But consistently study, it will bring you some results over time, right? So don't feel like you need to accelerate it necessarily. I think that's the point.
And then I think it's also okay to say, well, you know, you can put it on hold for a while. As I said, give yourself some grace. Maybe my last comment is, you know, I don't know about Kelsey's work life or your work life listeners, but whenever possible, you know, try to reduce those work meetings. If you're doing six hours a day on Zoom, you know, could you opt out of something? Like, do you really have to be present for all those things?
You know, ultimately the work expands to fill the time allotted to it. So, you know, if you're able to establish any sort of boundaries and just pull back a little bit and say, okay, I'm gonna go from six hours a day and these meetings to five or whatever is possible for you, you know, maybe you'll actually end up leading by example. And some of your colleagues will be like, okay, we need to meet, of course, but maybe we don't need to do it as much as we are doing. So I think it's really important you think about self-care during this time, because as Kelsey mentioned, this is not going away. So we need to think long-term.
And if you have Zoom fatigue as well, then you're not the only one. Listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. I love this interaction. We're gonna do some other group calls. We're gonna do some other stuff soon.
So thank you for being out there. It's a challenging time during the holidays as well. Everything is compounded, but I'm thinking of you and I wish you well. Do something today to care for yourself and check in on somebody else. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
from The Onward Project.
