You don't use a mouse?
I still prefer a mouse, but these days MacBook touchpads are good enough that I no longer bother bringing a mouse with me for serious work away from my desk.
Things I've quit doing at my desk
61–70 of 97 posts
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
It was Paul Graham. He later noted that it didn't really work.
Where did he say it didnt work? It seems like a great idea.
The "Note" on top. PG says: "The strategy described at the end of this essay didn't work. It would work for a while, and then I'd gradually find myself using the Internet on my work computer. I'm trying other strategies now, but I think this time I'll wait till I'm sure they work before writing about them."
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#63I would add "Eating" to the list. I eat at my desk all the time, and I really need to stop. When I eat at my desk, I'm generally eating things that aren't that healthy to begin with, snacking unnecessarily, and/or eating too quickly, and doing it in some misguided notion that I'm able to work and eat at the same time. I'm not actually productive at times like that, it just lets me deal with some illogical guilt I fee…
Often when I think I'm hungry, I'm actually thirsty. A glass of warmed water (surprisingly) quashes the need to snack. Cold water is no good. Does anyone know why that is?
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#64#1 (thinking elsewhere, especially while taking a walk) is definitely true for me, but it does require being in a setting where you're allowed to leave the office for a few hours in the middle of the day to go for a walk in a nearby park. In academia or at your own startup, probably not a problem, but many companies aren't very accommodating of people leaving the office for hours at a time.
I find that too - much of my best thinking in the past has come to me during the walk to the office or back home again. I once took to carrying a dictation machine so I could capture these thoughts because I used to find that the process of arriving at the office, making a coffee, booting up and logging on used to distract me and I'd forget what I'd thought of while walking. My theory about thinking and walking is th…
There actually is something to the idea of getting blood flowing to the different parts of your brain -- there's also a study showing a correlation between the nostril you're currently breathing out of right now and which nervous system is dominant (you have two). There's a breathing meditation exercise where you try to alternate nostrils -- it's a bit trippy once all of that O2 starts hitting both sides of your head at once.
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#65#1 (thinking elsewhere, especially while taking a walk) is definitely true for me, but it does require being in a setting where you're allowed to leave the office for a few hours in the middle of the day to go for a walk in a nearby park. In academia or at your own startup, probably not a problem, but many companies aren't very accommodating of people leaving the office for hours at a time.
It's really unfortunate that, for many bosses, if you're sitting, staring at your screen you "must be working." To really increase productivity we need to give employees the flexibility to reach "true productivity". True productivity isn't sitting in a desk all day: it's achieving a good measure of quality work.
And some bosses, like mine unfortunately, are so uptight about it that if I stop and stare at a wall / ceiling / close my eyes for even 30 seconds trying to solve an issue, I get the ok get to work speech and 15 things added to my already too long list.
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#66I would add "Eating" to the list. I eat at my desk all the time, and I really need to stop. When I eat at my desk, I'm generally eating things that aren't that healthy to begin with, snacking unnecessarily, and/or eating too quickly, and doing it in some misguided notion that I'm able to work and eat at the same time. I'm not actually productive at times like that, it just lets me deal with some illogical guilt I fee…
Often when I think I'm hungry, I'm actually thirsty. A glass of warmed water (surprisingly) quashes the need to snack. Cold water is no good. Does anyone know why that is?
Actually, I have opposite preferences, so I can't really help, but I don't enjoy drinking water that isn't cold. I wind up having four or five water bottles that I cycle through refrigerating/drinking/refilling. It's kind of annoying.
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#67That desk seriously needs a nice 27" monitor before it can be a proper "workstation".
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried at home for a few month and couldn't adapt to it. It hurts my legs too much after a few hours. I'm really not athletic so that's part of the issue. What annoyed me also was that I couldn't do creatives things while standing, only simple repetive tasks were ok. So I stopped.
Did you consider a standing-mat? "Standing on a hard floor for prolonged periods without anti-fatigue matting can cause pain and discomfort in the lower legs, feet and back." - some website selling them.
Two things really helped me when I was transitioning to a standing desk:
1) a standing mat 2) a bar stool (for sitting and leaning when my feet get tired)
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#69The "writing hut" part reminded me how Wallace Stegner's house / writing hut will be torn down in order to build a multi-million dollar monstrosity of a mansion [1]. :(
[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Stegner
edit: apparently the writing hut will be preserved, though inaccessible to the public
[2]http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Stegner-s-studio-won-t-b...
Re: Things I've quit doing at my desk
#70> Nobody does their best thinking sitting at their desk. When you reflect on your biggest “Ah-Ha!” moments, how many of them occurred while you were staring at a screen? My biggest ah-ha moments are seldom staring at a screen*, but quite often it's at my desk with a paper and pen. (The big exception is when doing profiling; the highest ah-ha-per-second ratio of all activities)
Agreed - that or a white board. A lot of times it helps to get out of the office if you hit a rut/wall. Just getting in a new environment and re-approaching the problem with a fresh perspective makes all the difference. I like to take long walks with my dogs and try to let my mind wander. Usually, I'll end up thinking about work or a personal issue that requires a solution to be addressed.
+1 to white-boards