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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Standing Desk - Month 1

I've been running an experiment with a standing desk for one month now. You can read about my experience (here, here, here and here). One month out, it's become clear that I can't stand all the live-long-day. At least not yet.

I kept hitting this point where my brain would shut down. I would be trying to write article or a blog post and instead of being productive and creative, I would get progressively more distracted. I realized that it was physical tiredness that was keeping me from being able to think. I know that standing shouldn't be that exhausting for me, and physically it wasn't, but mentally I kept hitting a wall.

But the same thing happened if I sat too long before starting the standing desk experiment. So, my solution over the last couple weeks has been to alternate. When I'm tired of standing, I sit and when I'm tired of sitting, I stand. This has been helpful for me during times when I'm more physically tired and I can't stand as long without experiencing mental fatigue. It gives me the flexibility to choose what's best for me from hour to hour and day to day. Whereas having an all-standing or all-sitting desk would lock me in to one situation, and my mental productivity would suffer at times.

What tools do you use to maintain mental productivity? How do you find your mind and your body are tied together?

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