Think about your last video call. What were you doing in the minutes before it started? Maybe you were replying to some emails, finishing a task or wrapping up another call. You closed one tab, opened another, clicked “join meeting”, and the conversation began without any real break in between.
Before remote work became normal, transitions were a natural part of our working days. But for many people who work from home or fully remotely, those buffers have largely disappeared. The commute is often just a few steps through the hallway, and the same table serves as a desk, meeting space, and sometimes even therapy room. One call ends, the next begins, and the only transition in between is a couple of clicks.
But our minds do not switch modes as quickly as our devices do.
The importance of transitions
Transitions happen automatically when we work in a physical office. We wander over to a colleague’s desk for a chat, walk to the meeting room, and commute home at the end of the day. Although many people may wish they could skip them entirely, these moments actually serve an important function by creating a natural buffer and giving our nervous system time to shift before the next thing begins. In the same way that our environment signals what mode we are in, as I explored in this recent blog post, transitions signal that one mode is ending and another is beginning.
When we work online, however, we often move quickly between very different kinds of attention, for example, from a focused work block to an emotional conversation, to a team meeting and so on. Research in cognitive psychology shows that this kind of abrupt task-switching has a real cost.
The term “attention residue” describes what happens when we move from one thing to another too quickly: part of our attention stays behind with whatever we were doing before. We are technically present, but not fully there. That could mean you are still mentally finishing the email you were writing right before a call, or carrying the emotional weight of a difficult conversation into what was meant to be a calm, focused work block.
There is also a physical side to this that is easy to overlook. The movement that once structured our days gave our bodies a chance to reset alongside the mind. Without it, hours pass in the same chair, and a quiet physical fatigue builds up alongside the mental one. Both the mental and physical effects of this accumulate quietly, leaving the day feeling scattered and draining, and over time, creating a sense of never being fully present in any of it.
Creating your own transitions
The most effective transitions tend to be simple and repeatable. They don’t even need to be very long, a few minutes is often all it takes. What matters is consistency.
When you repeat the same small action often enough, your nervous system learns what it means. And over time, the ritual itself starts to do the work, signalling that one thing has ended, and something else is about to begin.
Here are a few tips to get you started.
1. Switch with intention
Rather than clicking straight into a call, give yourself a few minutes first. Close what you were doing and take a minute or two for a brief moment of mindfulness. This can be as simple as noticing your breath, feeling your feet on the ground, or bringing your attention fully into the room you are in. There’s no need to change anything, it’s simply about shifting attention away from what came before and into the present moment.
Some people also find it helps to briefly ask themselves: what kind of conversation is this, and what do I want to bring to it? That short, mindful pause and a clear intention can shift the quality of presence you bring right from the start.
2. Move between calls
Physical movement can help signal to the brain that one thing has ended and something else is beginning. If you can, step outside for a few minutes or take a short walk around the block. But even very small movements can help create that sense of transition. Stretching is one of my personal favourites.
A few years ago, I even experimented with doing handstands between client sessions. It sounds a little unconventional, but it was surprisingly effective as a way to mentally reset between different people, conversations, and emotional topics. These days I usually go for something simpler. I often keep flowers near my workspace and like to pause for a moment between calls, take a deep breath, and consciously notice their scent.
3. Step away from the screen
Even taking just two or three minutes before an online meeting to slow down, look out the window, make a cup of tea, or simply sit somewhere else can change how a conversation feels. The key is to keep it screen-free.
Reaching for your phone or opening a new tab might feel like a break, but it actually keeps your attention in the same place.
4. Protect the gaps
It is easy to schedule calls back-to-back when you work online because there is no travel time to account for. But just because those gaps no longer fill themselves does not mean you don’t need them. Building a short buffer between calls makes a big difference if you actually use that time as a pause and give your mind some rest. Resist the temptation to fill these moments by quickly doing some household chores or checking messages.
I’ve structured my calender in a way that leaves at least 10 minutes of buffer in between any of my meetings and counselling sessions. This allows me to get settled before each call begins, letting go of whatever I was doing before and bringing my attention to the person I am about to speak with. After each session, I also allow a little time before moving on, simply to let the transition happen. It impacts both how present I feel in the session and my energy levels at the end of the day.
Small shifts make a big difference
The tips above are a starting point, not a strict guide. Try a few and notice what works for you. What matters is not the specific form a transition takes, but that it is an intentional signal to yourself that one thing has ended and something else is about to begin. What you are doing is giving your nervous system a moment to catch up, to process what just happened, release it, and arrive more fully in what comes next.
If you are not sure where to start, try building just one deliberate pause into your routine, perhaps after your most demanding call of the day, or as a way of marking the end of your working day. Notice what it feels like to actually finish one thing before beginning the next. It is only a small change, but over time it shapes not just how you work, but how you feel about the work itself.
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If you are struggling with exhaustion in your online work and would like some support or guidance, you can read more about my online counselling services on my website.
And if you are a German-speaking colleague keen to improve your video call set-up, check out my self-paced course “Videogespräche professionell gestalten”. You can see my complete offering for colleagues here.
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