Treadmill desk
photo by Joe Hover
Problem
Over the last couple of years there has been some research into negative effects sedentary lifestyle. Lack of exercise and spending many hours at desk sitting results in a lot of negative side effects. Some that have been identified include growing waist size, slowing down of the digestion processes, increased risk of cardiovascular problems and diabetes due to dropping insulin levels, raised cholesterol and bad posture.
A Poor Solution
Different ideas have been popping up to counter this problem. One of such ideas is a treadmill desk. A treadmill desk as you can easily guess is a combination of a treadmill and desk where you force your self to walk while you’re working. It maybe a cool little, (big if you consider the size of things hack) but I’m very sceptical over the actual benefits and practicality of this solution. To me it means more work and more time spend at desk staring at a computer.
Let me explain. Lack of exercise is one aspect of the situation, it’s maybe true that you’re not getting enough of it but there are other elements too. Yet stepping away from your desk is necessary for brain to rest, take a break and release the tensions of mental activities.
Half work – At treadmill desk you half work, your body is in constant motion so you need more energy to keep your focus on the computer screen, document you’re reading etc. If you try to think through a complex issue and you’re constantly moving your mind will wander off and it will take you longer to find a solution.
Half exercise – in order to keep yourself relatively stable your maximum speed will be 1-2 miles per hour at most. At this speed your movement will be very limited and resemble rocking rather than actual motion. Sure you will burn more calories and get your blood flowing bit faster but you can reduce many health risk by creating healthy eating habits like reducing your portions and sugar intake.
Expensive – $500 for a plastic platform over the treadmill and the treadmill itself which maybe between $300-$1500 it’s steep ask for something that has
You will miss
There are few other things you’re missing by staying bound to your desk for more and more hours and swapping proper exercise for treadmill desk.
Fresh air – You simply need it, there are scents, smells, there is wind, humidity etc. When you spend time in the office all you get is filtered, monitored, "artificial" air. Try to get out into a park, sea front, a field or simply go for a walk in your neighbourhood.
A step away – why best ideas happen when you’re in the shower or walk a dog? It’s simple you are not in your work environment, your brain is switching the gears, there are new impulses coming to it, new connections between neurons are forming hence new ideas happen. If you’re going for treadmill desk you’re choosing to spend more time at work and at your desk surrounded by the same objects. There are no new things that could stimulate your brain.
Discharge & recharge – physical exercise is an excellent way to shed away stress, negative emotions, decompress after a long and intensive day. Your brain gets a rest from all the mental activities. At the same time exercising results in production of different hormones which help you feel better and recharge your batteries. You might be physically tired but mentally your brain caught a break and can start working again.
I’m sure there will be group of people that will find this solution a one that works. For me this is it not something I would consider as a good approach, you may be increasing the number of hours which you spend in the office but that is not the goal worth pursuing. More important is being effective, creative so that you can do other things you like .
If you want to know more about dangers of spending a lot of time at your desk here is some of the resources which will give you a good overview of the issue.
Prolonged sitting boosts bad health
Sitting Kills
Proven side effects of sitting all day
Sitting time and mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.
Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults
iPad at work
photo by bm.iphone
Mac Power Users podcast is a great resource for anyone using Apple technology ran by two Apple fans David Sparks and Katie Floyd. But this podcast is also a fantastic place to learn about productivity tools, setups and workflows. I’ve been listening to one of the older episodes number 59 in which David Sparks talks about how he had written his latest book "iPad at Work"
Obviously the episode is very much focused on iPad and how it can be used to write a book and us as a primary work device. Many people may not agree with such approach but quite a lot have already proven that iPad is a very capable device and will match may/most users’ needs.
From my perspective the more interesting element was the whole process of writing a book and the organisational aspects of it. David Sparks goes into a lot of detail and describes his workflow. He starts with outlining how he worked through his initial ideas and thoughts. Then he moves on describing his writing process and the tools used and putting the text together. The whole episode is one of the most interesting workflow overviews I’ve listened to in recent weeks.
When listening to the episode you will come across different applications that are only available on iOS or MacOS platforms. You should be able to find good Windows or Linux equivalents on sites like alternative.net.
If you own an Apple device or are interested in technology and being productive with it this podcast is definitely one worth tuning in to.
Structure and productivity
A while ago I was listening to and older podcast with David Allen where he made a very interesting observation. Very often we are building a very complex structures to support our productivity by adding layers of tags, applications et. In effect we tie ourselves up and put more pressure on maintaining this system. It becomes a drag.
Something that’s opposite should be true. A good productivity system should be light and flexible allowing to fit it into changing events and requirements.
Continuing with this thought focus on keeping your system just right and fit for a purpose. It’s very easy to spend few hours organizing everything in your system. Adding locations, tags, links, making sure everything is clearly laid out. But is such approach sustainable on daily basis? Probably not.
When you look at how people get organized more often than not everything they have is halfway done. They had some free time so they decided to organise something they meant to do a long time ago. They put up a very nice looking structure of A-Z folders, marked with different colours and labels. After a while only half of the documents are done this way, the demands of the work took over and there is no longer a time to maintain this structure.
The same will happen with tasks. You can go full on with various application and fill every possible text box, tag, notes and links so then you can dice and slice actions, projects the way you want. After initial hurray stage this structure weighs your down and becomes a drag.
It becomes apparent that filling all the boxes and setting up all the tags and folders is too time consuming. You could do it when you had extra free time but it can’t be sustained in normal day when things are flying at speed of light.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why a short lists of tasks is so effective. It’s simple, easy and serves as a great reference point.
To conclude the tools you use should support you enough to let you maintain the control of the day and be flexible to allow you to adjust to changing priorities.
photo by zigazou76
Productivity anchor
photo by ProlificIT
What is an anchor?
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα (ankura ).
source Wikipedia
While ships and yachts are equipped with anchors by standard there are many other types of anchors. You might seen them on construction sites or even at home used by builders to mount plaster boards or shelves. They are different from ship’s anchor but the serve the same purpose, keep two elements together.
Every person’s productivity system would have such anchors.
Evernote and GTD
I have two anchors which help me stay organised and clear on what I want to do.
First one is GTD methodology which lets me keep up with my workflow. That in turn lets me clarify a ideas, project and actions and move them forward.
The second element is Evernote which is my primary capture and organisation tool. Although I don’t use it for task management the critical factor comes from the fact that I have a lot information there. Any time I need to refer to something like project, idea, reference file Evernote will be my first point of call.
I use these two tools daily to support myself in what ever I do. They help me to stay clear and organised. They ground me in a sense that if I start to chase side projects and activities I can always re-orientate myself and go back to wherever I left things off.
Question
Do you have your own productivity anchor?
What form would your anchor take?
What tools, processes or routines would be your most trusted?
How to start
Getting stuff done is not always easy. Very often we get burned out and can’t take it any more. Perhaps we want to abandon everything as we’re being pulled from so many directions. After a while things settle down and we can start making progress again.
Since the world hadn’t stopped when your were taking easy there is a considerable amount of stuff you need to deal with. Also you may want to kick off some side projects you always wanted. All of a sudden catching up few things turns into a mountain of stuff.
This can easily put you off from starting getting back into the flow. Fortunately kicking things off is easy and it takes only three steps.
Gather commitments
Take a piece of paper and list all the things that come to your head. Don’t judge those things you will review them later. For now just write them down and see what’s coming up.
Avoid using electronic tools if possible. Computers will distract you and you will lose focus necessary to empty your head. If you really have to use your computer use something very basic like plain text file and Notepad.
Clarify actions and outcomes
Now review your list and decide whether you want to do anything about them. Then clarify which items are projects and which are just simple actions.
Clarify the outcomes of your projects, define what do you want to do. Make them as specific as possible.
For example Fix a car is too vague to give you an idea what it’s about. But if you put it like that: "replace front suspension". Now it becomes clearer and more specific. It’s much easier to list any actions that my form part of such project. At the same time the success or the completion status is also clearly defined. In the first example you never know when you’re done perhaps there are many small things that my need fixing. Second example is very precise so the boundaries are set.
List the priorities
Once you’ve clarified actions and outcomes for projects it’s time to put them in some order and decide what needs your attention first.
No all things are equal and some will have greater urgency and importance.
There are no set criteria for defining priority simply use your own judgement and see what resonates with you.
Once you’re done setting the priorities begin to work on your first item.
Getting clear and current is a straight forwards process. For many the problem lies in the fact that we need to spend some time upfront setting up the environment, clarifying what to do and when to do it.
This may be difficult considering that you may not see it as necessary or even think of it as waste of time. I often thought that I should be working harder, knocking those actions rather than spending time reviewing and clarifying. Unfortunately opposite is true the more time we spend upfront on planning and clarifying the easier it is to make progress on what we want.
Photo by pobre.ch