“We know that there’s a problem within the cybersecurity industry when it comes to burnout – and it’s a problem that’s only getting worse.” That’s what Yvonne Eskenzi, Co-Founder of wellbeing and productivity app The Zensory, has noticed over the past three decades in the industry. What’s changed in recent years? “To name a few things, there’s increased attack surfaces, more threats, and cybercriminals have become savvier,” notes Eskenzi. Concerned by the effect such problems were having on her peers, she did something about it.
The Zensory is an app, currently used by over 30,000 desktop users, that was designed by its creators to combat the very issues that plague the cybersecurity industry: burnout, alert fatigue, and stress. The app was created by Yvonne Eskenzi alongside her daughters, Jasmine and Jade, during lockdown after they all noticed similar mental health issues affecting their respective peers. The Zensory harnesses the power of the senses (also known as sensehacking) to help its users focus and/or relax. Additionally, users can personalise their experiences according to how they learn best (their learning modality). For some, that’s using the immersive and colourful touch pads, for others it’s naturescapes and binaural beats.
What The Zensory provides is a toolkit that helps users ‘hack’ (and transform) their mood, replacing stress with calmness and an inability to focus with clarity. All of this is part of building and maintaining and healthy work-life balance.
A healthy work-life balance is one of the most important ways that cybersecurity professionals can avoid burnout. In fact, a survey by Tessian found that 1 in 5 CISOs work more than 25 extra hours per week, missing special occasions, family commitments and holidays as a result. But, according to Eskenzi, that’s no surprise: “The industry is known for attracting incredibly skilled professionals who take great pride in doing their job well. They’re often commit to their working lives and making sure their organisations and networks are secure – and that’s a huge responsibility for any one person or team to undertake.”
Yvonne herself is no stranger to the cybersecurity industry, having run a global cybersecurity PR agency, Eskenzi PR, for over 27 years.
So, how can the senses help?
Eskenzi says: “Our senses are our greatest tools. They’re available all the time and for free! We just need to learn to use them effectively. That could be learning to ‘box breathe’ (breathing in for four, holding for four, breathing out for four and repeat) or learning about different scents that have the power to transform mood.”
“Whilst this won’t necessarily stop CISOs and IT security professionals from working overtime completely, as a large part of this comes down to company culture and management, it can definitely help and is a great starting point. Once people understand their senses and how to use them to consciously control their nervous system, they can help them be more productive, reduce stress and make them more feel more present. By harnessing the power of your senses, you can get through your work quicker, condensing your workday into a smaller amount of time, and leaving more time for leisure or home activities, effectively improving your work-life balance and overall wellbeing.”
And, while it may sound counter intuitive, breaks are also important for productivity and wellbeing. As office workers, cyber security professionals will spend 75% of their time sat at their desks, rarely getting up or having a break. But breaks are essential for both wellbeing and productivity. Studies have shown that consistent breaks as little as 2 minutes throughout the day can increase mood, productivity, concentration and success when completing tasks*. However, breaks are so often overlooked and frowned upon in the workplace – but they should really be promoted and celebrated. Tools such as pomodoro timers are an easy way to start incorporating breaks into your day. A pomodoro timer will remind you to take a break after 25 minutes, for 5 minutes – which is the perfect amount of time to focus a number of small tasks or tackle a chunk of a large tasks. A break reminds you to refresh your body and helps improve your focus on the task after it.
The Zensory app itself, which features a pomodoro timer, is backed by over 200 research papers and world-leading experts and professors, features various exercises that can help you learn such techniques.
“Finally,” Eskenzi continued, “a lot of mindfulness is about choosing to focus on the present, the only thing we can change, as opposed to the future or the past. When working in a field like cybersecurity, where professionals are always anticipating the next move of cybercriminals and latest tech innovation, that can be hard. However, if professionals commit to choosing to be more mindful, the stress may be put into perspective.”
The Zensory app is available to download via the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month, for a limited time, new subscribers can get full access to the app for 99p per month. More information can be found here: https://thezensory.com/
You can read more about cyber mindfulness here.