We’re here again. And have been for the past 2-4 months (depending on where you’re located). Just when we thought we were home and hosed. Just when we thought we were home free. More lockdowns. More restrictions. A more virulent strain. More uncertainty. 

Sign in. Sign out. Mask. Distance. Sanitise. Scrub. Isolate. 

No wonder we all feel meh.

It’s emotionally exhausting having to deal with these things all the time. Not to mention how emotionally exhausting it is to be exposed to all the covid news and tragedies. 

It can be hard to feel safe. Or hard to feel hopeful. 

This is such a common way for people to feel that it actually has a name: Pandemic Fatigue. 

Pandemic Fatigue can affect you emotionally with feelings of depression or anxiety, feeling hopeless, powerless or trapped, feeling irritable, nervous or tearful, and generally losing interest and motivation for work and life in general.

Maybe you or your team are having more days off, taking longer to complete work tasks, feeling less committed to work, or failing to meet deadlines. Maybe feeling less inclined to want to do what we agree on in coaching. 

Throw headaches, exhaustion, muscle pain and loss of appetite into the mix and it all equals a general sense of fucked. 

My partner Michelle the psycho (aka very clever psychologist) is seeing a lot of this in her practice. People who usually have their shit together and are self-motivated are complaining about these feelings. We even had a few days that we felt like this.

So if you or your team are feeling it, it’s normal. But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be thinking about how to manage it. 

One of the things that can really help is getting clearer on your vision. BTW Vision is one of the 6 domains of resilience but more about that later.

Your vision gives you a sense of meaning and purpose. It’s something to strive for. It’s the big picture that helps you see past this hump to better times in the future. 

Obviously, it’s easier for you as a business owner to tap into the vision for your business and use it to help overcome Pandemic Fatigue but how do you use this with your team?

I talk about sharing your vision and goals with your team so they feel that they have an important role in the success of your business. Maybe it’s time to make that clear again. 

People do better when they feel like they’re part of something greater than themselves. If they feel like they’re just a shit kicker, doing the daily grind they will probably be more affected by Pandemic Fatigue if it hits. If they can see that they play an integral role in the growth of your business, they have the vision to help them get past the hump.

So ask them questions about how you could help them feel more like that. More a part of the vision. 

For example, “This is what your role helps us achieve. We couldn’t do it without you. You doing this, and being trustworthy and reliable, means we can do this. What would help you feel like you were more valuable to us?”

If you have opportunities for progression you can ask questions like: 

• Would they like more responsibility? 
• Would they like the opportunity to do more things autonomously? 
• Are there things they would like to learn that would help them progress?

The idea is to engage them in the future of your business – the vision. If they have a sense of belonging and a direction to aim for, they’ll have more motivation. Motivation is inherently rewarding (triggers dopamine) and will help to combat Pandemic Fatigue. 

If it’s you suffering with Pandemic Fatigue, step back and look at what feel-good goals you have for your business. Not just how much you want to make but the things from your vision that will make you feel good. 

When Michelle and I were feeling Meh we talked about how we could plan and book in some mini getaways – long weekends, 2 day bush walks with an overnight camp. We also talked about how we could bring Michelle more into the business to reduce my workload and to improve the client experience. That future vision – with things that were controllable regardless of the pandemic, lifted our moods and made us feel more motivated. 

All the things we discussed about the business were not immediate but the idea that we could work towards them gave us more motivation. The more short term things like the getaways made us feel like there was something rewarding in our immediate future that wouldn’t be overly affected by covid unless there was a hard lockdown. 

If you’re looking at it for you and your team, try to adopt the same strategy. Some short-term easy, fun, nice things. And some longer term, motivating things.

If you’re struggling to find the feel-good goals, let’s talk about it at our next coaching session. The more you have your shit in order, the easier it will be for your team to keep their spirits up through this tough time.