Hello friends,
Greetings from Barcelona ☀️
🙌Many thanks for reading The Quest, your weekly round-up of tips and insights to help you design and lead exceptional online sessions that your group members will love.❤️
Let’s jump in.
Working online has a lot of upsides👇
You’ve ditched the commute.
You’ve embraced more flexible hours.
And you can work from anywhere there’s an internet connection.
What’s not to like?
Turns out there are also some pretty big downsides.
Before you know it, savings on travel time have morphed into longer working days. Flexible hours become late nights and weekends. And you can find wifi EVERYWHERE. Even on your family’s camping vacation.🏕️
If you’ve felt the strain of the digital shift, you are not alone.
I’ve experienced it firsthand. Countless hours hunched over my laptop. Chronic neck pain or “tech neck”. Not being able to ever fully “switch off”. Trouble focusing. Exhaustion. The worst part? I didn’t even notice the signs of burnout creeping in.
It was time for a massive reset.
Cut to a yoga and meditation center in Kerala, India, where I went with my husband for a 3-week digital detox. No laptop. Very limited wifi. Only ayurvedic treatments, a cleansing diet, meditation, and yoga.
I had an aha! moment.
The one early morning lying on my back mid-meditation, the yogi says slowly and deeply, “Relax your mind. Allow it to be free.” And it hit me. The antidote to the digital hustle isn’t doing more. It’s ✨intentionally✨ designing an online working life that promotes sustained well-being. For me and my online groups.
You can beat burnout.
Once you are aware of the dangers of burning out, there are simple strategies you can follow to get yourself on a better path and prevent it from happening. (Without travelling to India:)
How do you get the benefits of online work AND protect your well-being? That’s our Quest for this week 🔎
👉 The Signs of Burnout and How to Reset
👉 5 Research-backed Tips for Facilitating Well-being In Your Live Sessions
👉 This week’s top facilitator finds
😌Think You’ve Hit Burnout? Learn the Signs and How to Reset
I found this article from the remote job search site We Work Remotely. It breaks down the signs of burnout and how to prevent it.
It explained why remote workers are more likely to deal with burnout (including the “always-on” mindset). And it offers some ways you can reset.
Here’s the summary:
#1. Find the Cause of Your Stress. Find out if there is a mismatch between you and your job, and find a better match.
#2. Change Your Approach. Proactively set work hours and boundaries. And talk to your supervisor about your gripes.
#3. Reach Out to Your Support System. Identify your support network and regularly check-in.
#4 Remember Why You Started. What motivated you to get into remote work and build on those positive thoughts.
How do reset when you start to feel burnout?
📚7 Research-backed Tips for Facilitating Well-being in Your Virtual Sessions
If you lead virtual meetings and live sessions, there are practical research-backed ways you can facilitate well-being in your virtual sessions.
Check out this LinkedIn post with five that I use most often.
How do you facilitate well-being in your sessions? I’d love to know! Click on the link to join the conversation on LinkedIn.👇
💪 This Week’s Facilitator Finds
#1/ ⚒️The Workplace Belonging Toolkit by Adam Poswolsky. An Actionable Guide to Create a Culture of Belonging and Human Connection at Work (h/t Romy Alexandra). A 70-page free toolkit with case studies, practical tips, and exercises to promote belonging and connection at work.
#2/ 🧰 6 Free Tools for More Intentional Virtual Sessions by Anamaria Dorgo. You may know Anamaria as the Head of Community at Butter. She is also an expert curator of resources. This one is a round-up of free check-in and warm-up tools.
#3/ ✍️Facilitator Loneliness (LinkedIn Post) by Thomas Lahnthaler. A thoughtful piece on the challenges of loneliness in facilitation with tips for dealing with it. Follow Thomas for more brilliant posts and facilitation insights like this one.
📸Photo of the week
One of my favorite moments in India. ✨
💌 Thanks for reading The Quest
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