Managing all of the transitions and challenges that arose as a result of the pandemic hasn’t been easy for anyone, especially with all the personal stress associated with the pandemic itself. For some insights on how to handle this stress and remote working, Adam contacted a friend of his, astronaut Scott Kelly.
“He’s the astronaut who set the American record for 340 straight days in space, and the guy who lived on a space station for a year knows how to live through remote work,” Adam said.
Adam recalled how Scott recognized the immense challenge of dealing with the unpredictable and stressful nature of space for so long, and that he had to prepare differently to address this challenge.
“Scott said, ‘Instead of just focusing on my mission from NASA, I set a goal that I would have the same energy and enthusiasm as when I left. I knew it would be a slog, and all I could do was manage my own mental state.’ That mental time travel, fast-forwarding to imagine the future, that makes it feel like the future is more real, almost as if you can touch it and taste it. And it also allows you to work backwards and identify things that you can do on a daily basis that will help you maintain your enthusiasm.”
We’re so grateful that Adam could join us during the Growth Summit and for all the learnings he was able to share with us. For me personally, it was a true “AHA moment” and it made me realize how we here at Zoom need to stop and think — about how we engage with our employees, how we can use the Zoom platform to democratize corporate conversations, and how I need to implement my own “challenge network” to constantly refresh my ideas. We gifted our revenue organization an annual subscription to Master Class as part of the event, and I intend to make full use of mine as I drink my own Kool-Aid here and commit to ongoing learning.
For more insights about hybrid work and how you can adjust your operations, please visit our hybrid work page.