5 Things to Stop Doing When You're Struggling and Feeling Drained

a post by Lori Deschene for the Tiny Buddha blog


“There is nothing in nature that blooms all year long, so don’t expect yourself to do so either.” ~Unknown

Recently I’ve been spread incredibly thin and, at times, I’ve felt stressed to the max.

In addition to being at the tail end of a high-risk pregnancy, with complications, I’ve been working toward various new projects—not just for fulfillment but also because I’ve allowed the business side of running this site to slide for years. And I have a baby coming soon. It’s crucial that I revive what I’ve allowed to deflate because I’ll have a whole new life to provide for.

There’s a lot I need to do over the next six weeks, before my scheduled C-section, and a lot I’ve failed to do over the previous weeks, largely because I’ve had many days when I’ve felt physically and emotionally incapable of rising to the challenge.

To be fair, there’s also been a lot to enjoy and appreciate, and I know I am incredibly fortunate to be pregnant at all, and to have the opportunity to do so much professionally. But life has felt somewhat pressure-filled as of late, and along with many small wins have come many hours and days when I’ve felt drained and defeated.

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Have Mobile Devices Changed Working Patterns in the 21st Century? A Time-diary Analysis of Work Extension in the UK

an article by Killian Mullan (University of Oxford, UK) and Judy Wajcman (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK) published in Work, Employment and Society Volume 33 Issue 1 (February 2019)

Abstract

It is commonly claimed that ubiquitous connectivity erodes the boundaries that once separated work from other aspects of life. Mobile devices in particular enable people to perform work-related activities anytime anywhere.

Surprisingly, however, we know little about how people nationwide organise their daily working time over a period that has witnessed rapid technological change.

Using the United Kingdom Time Use Surveys 2000 and 2015, covering this period of technological change, we studied work extension practices, and the links between work extension, total work hours and subjective time pressure.

We found a significant, though small, increase in work extension, and evidence that it was significantly associated with time pressure in 2015, but not in 2000. Additionally, work extension increased total work hours, which was concentrated entirely in time working with a mobile device.

We discuss our results in light of some taken-for-granted narratives about mobile devices allowing work to colonise life.

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Information sharing as strategic behaviour: the role of information display, social motivation and time pressure

an article by Nicoleta Bălău and Sonja Utz (VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands) published in Behaviour & Information Technology Volume 36 Issue 6 (2017)

Abstract

In today’s knowledge economy, given the increasing number of online collaborative platforms, it is even more important to understand and manage the sharing of information. Although it is widely accepted that technological design affects how people use a platform, it is a real challenge to constantly stimulate information sharing (IS), also because individuals often behave strategically, that is, share relatively unimportant information, but keep the important private information for themselves.

This research aims to understand how people’s motivations and aspects of communication technology interact to affect IS. Specifically, we expand the view of IS as strategic behaviour by investigating

1. how social motivation (prosocial vs. pro-self) and time pressure (high vs. low), interactively, impact strategic IS and
2. how technological features (push- vs. pull-information display) can increase the sharing of private information.

Across two experiments, we found that push-information displays increase the sharing of private information. This held especially for individuals with a prosocial motivation. Additionally, we found that actual and not perceived time pressure impacts (private) IS. Implications for technological design choices and knowledge management are discussed.

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