An amazing burger from my favorite food truck in VA Beach, The Coop. Did you eat lunch at your desk today?
If so, you may have gotten an extra 30 to 60 minutes of work done.
However, was it quality work that you got done?
More importantly, what was the quality of your work the entire afternoon?
Would it have been higher quality if you took an hour to do these 3 things?
1. Get away from your desk
The physical aspect speaks for itself. Any of my readers will tell you that sitting in a position for more than 1 hour (much less 4 hours) is incredibly destructive to your body. It doesn't matter if you're sitting with good posture, bad posture, even standing for more than an hour. Repetitive strain doesn't discriminate. It will cause pain and injury in any position....good posture or bad.
2. Disconnect mentally from your work
We're only allotted a certain amount of mental energy per day. If we're dehydrated and also eating a poor, nutrition-less diet, we get even less mental energy. But that's a whole other story for another day.
The fact is that we need to rest from mental work just as we need to rest from physical work. You wouldn't work in the yard for 8 hours straight. You'd take a break to eat. You wouldn't eat while you're pushing the lawnmower. The same should go for working at a computer desk.
Plus, you may have read articles about super successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, who decrease their mental energy output everyday by wearing the same outfit each morning. They don't wear the EXACT same shirt and pants. But, Zuckerberg will always wear a neutral color t-shirt and/or hoodie. He's comfortable in it, not to mention he just throws it on in the morning, compared to stressing or expending mental energy trying to figure out what to wear.
3. Focus on enjoying your food
When you eat food in front of your computer, you're not 100 percent focused on eating. You're swallowing the food without chewing it. If you don't chew your food up completely before you swallow it, it makes your digestive system work harder to break the food down. This takes even more of your body's energy. That is why juicing vegetables and fruits is such an incredibly effective method for getting energy. The ingredients are liquified, so the vitamins and minerals take much less time and energy to get into your system compared to if you had to eat all those fruits and vegetables.
Another thing, the longer food is in your mouth, the more satisfying the meal is. If you're not chewing the food completely, you're not enjoying the meal. You're hungry an hour later. Your taste buds are in your mouth. Once food passes into your throat, you can't taste the meal any more.
To read more reasons why not to eat at your desk, there's a great article in my local paper written by Phillip Walzer. It's titled "Thinking About Skipping Your Lunch Break? Don't."
Phil quoted me in the article a couple times. (;
He's got a cool perspective on routines and efficiency. He also quotes a couple other people who really know their stuff. You can read it HERE.
If so, you may have gotten an extra 30 to 60 minutes of work done.
However, was it quality work that you got done?
More importantly, what was the quality of your work the entire afternoon?
Would it have been higher quality if you took an hour to do these 3 things?
1. Get away from your desk
The physical aspect speaks for itself. Any of my readers will tell you that sitting in a position for more than 1 hour (much less 4 hours) is incredibly destructive to your body. It doesn't matter if you're sitting with good posture, bad posture, even standing for more than an hour. Repetitive strain doesn't discriminate. It will cause pain and injury in any position....good posture or bad.
2. Disconnect mentally from your work
We're only allotted a certain amount of mental energy per day. If we're dehydrated and also eating a poor, nutrition-less diet, we get even less mental energy. But that's a whole other story for another day.
The fact is that we need to rest from mental work just as we need to rest from physical work. You wouldn't work in the yard for 8 hours straight. You'd take a break to eat. You wouldn't eat while you're pushing the lawnmower. The same should go for working at a computer desk.
Plus, you may have read articles about super successful people, such as Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, who decrease their mental energy output everyday by wearing the same outfit each morning. They don't wear the EXACT same shirt and pants. But, Zuckerberg will always wear a neutral color t-shirt and/or hoodie. He's comfortable in it, not to mention he just throws it on in the morning, compared to stressing or expending mental energy trying to figure out what to wear.
3. Focus on enjoying your food
When you eat food in front of your computer, you're not 100 percent focused on eating. You're swallowing the food without chewing it. If you don't chew your food up completely before you swallow it, it makes your digestive system work harder to break the food down. This takes even more of your body's energy. That is why juicing vegetables and fruits is such an incredibly effective method for getting energy. The ingredients are liquified, so the vitamins and minerals take much less time and energy to get into your system compared to if you had to eat all those fruits and vegetables.
Another thing, the longer food is in your mouth, the more satisfying the meal is. If you're not chewing the food completely, you're not enjoying the meal. You're hungry an hour later. Your taste buds are in your mouth. Once food passes into your throat, you can't taste the meal any more.
To read more reasons why not to eat at your desk, there's a great article in my local paper written by Phillip Walzer. It's titled "Thinking About Skipping Your Lunch Break? Don't."
Phil quoted me in the article a couple times. (;
He's got a cool perspective on routines and efficiency. He also quotes a couple other people who really know their stuff. You can read it HERE.
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