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Things Ive quit doing at my deskSeptember 16, 2012 by Justin in Better work, Blog

September 16, 2012 by

We need to think of our desks as workstations.

In reality, we do all sorts of things at our desks that arent real work (or affect our ability toproduce our best work).

Here are things Im trying to quit doing at my desk:

1. Thinking: 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

If youre like me, your best thinking happens when youre not at your desk: taking a walk,

going and asking another person for help, drinking a coffee, in the shower.Your desk is fo

executing; do your thinking elsewhere.

2. Socializing:When I sit down at my desk, I want to be in work mode. I want to prioritize

my most important tasks, and then complete them with the fastest velocity possible.

Socializing while Im at my desk sullies the purity of the workstation. This is why the water

cooler is actually a brilliant social construct: when you want to hang out, you can get up from

your workstation and go to the socialstation. I think every office should have a

socialstation, a place (or time in the morning) where team members can hang out, and talk

informally.

3. Procrastinating: Check Facebook, check Twitter, go on YouTube, check email, mindlessl

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read blog posts. I think that breaks, and downtime, are important in a work day.

But again: I think maintaing the purity of my desk as a place where I work is important. If I

need some mindless time, I think its better to walk away from my desk and have a place

and time limit where I do that. Its also important that we catch ourselves when

procrastinating and ask ourselves: Why? Are we procrastinating because were tired?

Hungry? Bored? Are we stuck on a problem? Are we just feeling lethargic and need to get u

and move around? Figure out whats at the source of your mindless net browsing, and deal

with the problem.

4. Sitting: for the past 18 months Ive been using a standing desk. Ive realized that the best

part isnt that Im standing all day; its that Im not sitting. A standing desk allows you t

stand, sit, lean, and put one leg up while youre at your workstation. Even better, Ive felt

more freedom tojust walk awaywhen Im faced with a problem and need to do some

thinking (or when Im tired and need a break).

Many writers maintain a private writing hut. The hut has one purpose: its the place they go to

write. They dont do anything else there. Once they cant write any more, they go do something

else. I think we need to think of our desks in the same way: these are places where we get work

done.

What do you think?