Hyperactive Hivemind

“I am done with this job!”

“I can’t do this anymore.”

“I am exhausted.”

How often do we hear these or similar remarks from people around us, colleagues, friends and sometimes even from ourselves? In the past decade burnout due to stress has become a common and an increasing issue at the workplace around the world. Burnout is a result of stress which gets piled up gradually day by day. If we have to put it in one line, burnout is a state of exhaustion — mentally, emotionally and physically because of unrelenting stress.

In a survey conducted by Deloitte recently, 84% of the millennials questioned said that they experienced burnout at their current job and nearly half of them left their job where burnout was the main reason for leaving.

What is the reason behind this burnout?

The answer lies in a very basic question — what does an employer need from its employees? Higher productivity and commitment. In this era of non-stop, uninterrupted and fast methods of communication, there is a constant exchange of information via phone calls, emails, meetings, video conferencing, etc. The notification on our laptops, mobiles keeps them buzzing. With that buzzing comes the urge to quickly check it and reply and shift our focus from what we are currently doing in that moment and put our efforts in replying to that mail or message.

Most of us use the term ‘multitaskers’ to explain this behaviour and take pride in doing so. By doing several tasks at once, we believe or want to believe that we are putting our best efforts to produce the desired result.

Keeping the ‘work mode’ always on, does not give us time to think deeply. This style of working or work habit is described as ‘hyperactive hivemind’ by Cal Newport, author of Deep Work and writer of Study Hacks blog which focuses on study and career success.

“Managers spend 85% of the day in meetings, on the phone or talking to people about work, but not doing it. It’s flexible and adaptive, but conflicts with the way that the human brain operates. Those context shifts are devastating and burn you out,” says Cal.

He explains that switching one’s attention from one task to another in quick succession comes at a price. This switching leads to creating an effect called attention residue according to psychologists which results in loss of cognitive ability for a significant amount of time. These constant checks of messages, emails, etc. can keep one in a continuous state of attention residue, which slowly and gradually leads to stress because of inability to do the work resulting in burnout of employees at the workplace.

Scott Redfern, an experienced business leader from Connecticut and hyperactive hivemind sufferer confesses, “I’m continually distracted and can’t focus like I used to. I bounce from meeting to meeting just hoping that I can get enough time in between them to write down what I actually committed to do in each of those meetings…. those popups and tones from your desktop and phone apps call to you… One quick look at them and you’re off on a tangent you may never return from.” According to studies, it takes almost 24 minutes to get your focus back after a distraction.

How can we overcome hyperactive hivemind and prevent burnout?Although the hyperactive hivemind approach is flexible and communicative, it doesn’t result in any actual tangible work. To get actual work done one needs to get into “deep work” mode by following these quick strategies:

• Have a strategy in place and focus on one task to complete before taking on another one.
• Have social media control on yourself while working on a task. Keep it for your allotted free time.
• Prioritize which email needs your immediate attention.
• Try to minimize unnecessary meetings and other unwanted communication.

Taking these into consideration will automatically give you more time to focus better on work with better productivity. A healthy workplace environment also helps in reducing work-stress. Inculcating healthy office habits like a healthy diet, more greenery at your workspace, better sleep patterns and regular exercise can make your work life much better in a high-stress environment.

Do you feel the same with your work life? Are you also a victim of hyperactive hivemind?

Let us know in the comments.

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