From the challenges of video meetings to the overload of information that comes with a pandemic, the shift to remote work is rife with potential sources of frustration. That’s why today we would like to share some ideas to manage frustration in the virtual workplace.
Identify What Triggers Your Frustration
What we call frustration may arise from a variety of causes. Take the time to reflect and identify what ideas or situations make you feel frustrated.
Think about the specific circumstances that led to frustration. You may think a specific incident caused it, but your reaction may have been triggered by a thought or situation that added more stress, making you feel frustrated. Identifying your frustration triggers is the first step to distance yourself from them, as we’ll see later. Some common sources of frustration include:
- Transitions
- Challenges that they consider too difficult
- Exhaustion
- Unexpected situations
- Feeling ignored or misunderstood
- Physical discomfort
Create Emotional Distance
No matter our age, our natural response to frustration usually makes matters worse. When we feel irritated, we tend to insist on whatever we are doing, or on whatever point we are trying to make, with increasing vehemence. This only makes us less rational and leads to growing agitation.
Make an effort to take the opposite approach. Take a step back from the situation that makes you feel frustrated and allow yourself a break doing something that feels relaxing or fun. This shift creates emotional distance and helps you reframe what bothers you.
Discover the Importance of Breathing
If taking a break is not possible, there are other alternatives as well. Remember this simple exercise you can apply whenever you feel frustrated: Take deep breaths as you count to ten making an effort to feel the floor beneath your feet. When we feel frustrated, we are often unable to focus on anything but our own heightened emotions. Like the previous technique, this exercise will help you create emotional distance between you and the situation that makes you feel uncomfortable.
More Resources
These are some previous posts you can explore to get more ideas to improve the remote working experience both for you and your team.
- 4 Time-saving G-Mail and Google Docs hacks
- How to give feedback when working remotely
- How to deal with transitions during COVID-19
- Communication with your team is key during a crisis
- How to keep a great company culture when working remotely
- Beware of these coronavirus scams
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