Having heard a lot about zoom-exhaustion, and the general fatigue many of us are experiencing with this aggressive shift to remote work, I thought I’d share the screen-time and work approach, and advice I’ve put into practice now for ~2 years as a traumatic brain injury patient.

Many of the symptoms described are similar to what those with head trauma experience regularly. Depressive symptoms, anxiety, disturbed sleep, headaches etc. I’m not a medical professional, and none of it is groundbreaking. When put together, it’s been effective recovery.

Think of your strategy as the 3 Ps.

1. Pacing strategy
2. Points system
3. Personal choices.

The entire goal is to destimulate your brain enough on the regular to prevent burnout, fatigue, headaches, or other symptoms.

1. Pacing strategy: similar to Pomodoro, pacing my day is the most important thing to stick with to last through the day. Ex: 25 min work, 5 min break. I build these into my calendar+block the time. Sticking to this means I don’t collapse at 3pm and silently sob into my pillow.

Note: when Pacing, a break doesn’t mean scrolling IG, it means get up, look outside, walk the block if it’s safe where you are, open a window, breathe. Beginning of recovery, this meant a dark room with no sounds. Breathing or meditations now suffice. Try @Headspace or @calm.

2. Points system: think weight watchers but for your brain. 1 hour of meetings on zoom=3 points. 1 hr with kids=5pts (Lol). Each and every thing you do gets an allocation of points from 1-5. The trick is to figure out how many points is a sustainable max for you.

So, for example, my max for the day is ~35pts. When first recovering, it was closer to 15pts. 1 hour of exercise = 3pts. 30 min call = 2pts. Deep work for 1 hr = 4pts. 1 hr zoom call = 5pts. No activity helps you earn more points for the day though. You’re done when you’re done.

3. Personal: things like great sleep hygiene (no screens 2 hrs before bed, ear plugs, wind-down routine), limiting alcohol (this one is tough during the pandemic, can’t lie), and eating nutritious food are all extremely important.

3 cont’d. Journals, gratitude journals, or just braindumping your thoughts in the AM or PM can help. Pen to paper, not in your notes app.

I’ve hesitated to share my thoughts on effective remote work and maintaining your health because there is an abundance of content about this. But if only one person reads it and has some positive impact from it, that wouldn’t be so bad either.

Many people won’t even get the chance to try anything like this because they aren’t able to exert any control over their work days, be it Where or How. I think about these ppl a lot.

What else is working for you? I’d love to hear. This is really hard. Take small bites and be easy on yourself. Take care. Hope this has been helpful to at least one of you