How I Eliminated 90% of My Zoom Calls and Ended Meeting Fatigue

Photo by Compare Fibre on Unsplash

Zoom fatigue is real, and 2020 became the worst case of fatigue for me. While I have been working remotely for 11 years, nothing has prepared me for what happened at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. My routine of working in coffee shops 2–3 times a week to meet other remote professionals and international travels quarterly came to a complete halt.

From Super Productive to Daily Panic Attacks

At first, I was okay with the lockdowns. I tried to focus on being productive. But it wasn’t sustainable. I burned out quickly until I was having panic attacks almost every day. One time, I even had a panic attack during a Zoom call.

My work setup up in the early days of the lockdowns with a newborn.

The Zoom meetings didn’t cause panic attacks, but it was my breaking point. At that time, I gave birth to a baby boy during the first round of lockdowns. The anxiety of taking care of a newborn was extremely higher because of the pandemic. Lockdowns also meant our immediate family members couldn’t come to babysit. So no break from a toddler and a newborn! It was just me and my husband 24/7.

How Changing Roles Reduced My Zoom Calls to 50%

I promised myself that I needed to change things. One of the things that I changed was a shift from a managerial role to a content creator role.

In 2018, I accepted an offer to become a full-time Marketing Manager. Although I knew in my heart that I was meant to be a writer, I accepted the position. At that time, I thought it was the best way I could help the startup grow. It was a great decision, and I’m glad I accepted that offer.

However, during the pandemic, I had one very important epiphany: I was not meant to be a manager. I was meant to be a writer.

Luckily, I was working in a startup that had an amazing remote work culture. This was my plan when I realized that I had to transition into a new role:

• I talked to our CEO about my mental health and my true purpose which was to create content.
• I talked to our HR Manager and created a plan for my transition.
• We hired a new Marketing Manager as my replacement.

By changing to a content creator position, all my daily and weekly management calls had been eliminated — which was about 50% of my total weekly calls. It also helped me focus on deep work. Instead of managing people, I was managing words. I was right in my zone. I was still part of the Content Marketing team, so I still had to attend content planning and retro calls. Since I was mostly focusing on content and no longer needed as a manager, I was able to control more of my time.

Eventually — after six months of trying the full-time content creator role — I transitioned to a freelance contract, which ultimately ended 90% of my Zoom calls. Another epiphany I had during the pandemic was that I was not meant to be a full-time employee. I was meant to be a freelancer.

The End of My Meeting Fatigue

Those series of changes didn’t happen overnight. It was meticulously planned and executed in a span of 16 months. Besides making career changes, I also made tons of changes in our home setup.

I’m happy to report that I have had zero panic attacks in the past few months. I now have 2–3 calls per week instead of 3–4 calls per day. One of the main reasons why I was able to do this was mastering asynchronous discussions and using async tools.

Here’s How:

• I don’t always say yes when someone asks me to jump in a call.
• I always check to see if I can resolve a question or an issue through an email or a private Slack message.
• I set boundaries and make sure phone and app DNDs are automatically turned on.
• I take advantage of asynchronous tools like Complish and Notion.

Small Changes to End Meeting Fatigue

I know that my journey may seem luxurious to some people— from a marketing manager to content creator to freelance writer. Most remote professionals don’t have the luxury to transition to new roles or commit to a freelancing life, especially now when everything seems unstable.

But there’s still hope. There are a few changes that you can make to lessen your Zoom calls and alleviate meeting fatigue.

Here’s an example of how I try to resolve something first asynchronously. If we can’t resolve it on Notion or Google Docs, then I would recommend jumping in a call.

Here are a few tips:

• Be more mindful of when and with who you set up Zoom calls.
• Try to eliminate unnecessary meetings.
• Work with your company’s leadership to adopt an asynchronous-first remote work culture.

Can you end meeting fatigue once and for all without having to change roles or jobs? You totally can. I wrote more about this topic on the Complish blog where I have more tips on how to use asynchronous communication and tools to live a more fulfilling remote work life.