The pandemic has created all kinds of unexpected changes for us. One massive change is that most of us are meeting on Zoom or its equivalent, many times a day for over a year now.
Besides being mentally taxing, it’s hard on our eyes. They can get dry from all that screen time.
Dr. Mila Ioussifova is an Optometrist & Dry Eye Specialist. She told me that on average, we should be blinking15 times every minute because blinking lubricates our eyes. When we stare at our screens by day: emailing, creating PowerPoints, reading documents, being on video calls and texting and then binging on Netflix by night, we don’t blink 15 times a minute. Dr. Mila says, we blink 4-5 times a minute!
The result is that our hard-working eyes become dry and irritated. It’s that burning, scratchy feeling. I’ve had it. Dr. Mila taught me to take a break from the screen every 20-minutes and blink for 20-seconds.
It helps.
As a leader, you can model this technique to encourage your team to take care of themselves. When you offer something practical like a “blink break” it communicates to your colleagues that you care about them and their health and their well-being. It’s a small, out-of-the-box Model & Teach approach to leadership.
For the next 30-days, try it.
The world has changed in countless, unimaginable and many negative ways.
Here’s one way to change-up your leadership, positively.
Thank you for reading.