Creating a good working routine for yourself isn’t just about time blocking, putting boundaries around email, and making sure you tackle your biggest projects when you have the most energy.
I mean, all that is really important, but all the efficiency tips in the world don’t matter if you feel tired, rundown, and achy. You’re just not going to be at your best.
That’s why it’s also important to get up from your damn desk once in a while!
Physical activity recharges us, breaks up the day, and gives you a boost of mental and physical energy. It can also help to create a clear transition between home and work life.
Whether you’re working from home or at the office, you probably have limited space and time to add movement to your day. It’s still possible, though – and it doesn’t have to add a massive new series of tasks to your already overflowing to-do list, I promise.
Here’s 7 easy ways to add some movement to your daily routine to help you feel better and get your brain back in motion.
1. Fidget
This is seriously the easiest way to get some movement into your day. As any slightly hyperactive person knows, fidgeting can be a great way to keep yourself focused during a meeting or conversation. Jiggle your legs or make tapping motions with your feet instead. Keep it subtle and quiet if you’re working around other people, but try it out. Making walking motions with your feet or legs under the table can burn more calories than you’d expect!
2. Schedule It
Put longer stretch or movement breaks on your calendar – I like to have one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon, for about 15 minutes each.
For shorter stretch breaks to help keep you functioning as you plow through your list for the day, set a timer on your phone or computer to beep at you every hour or so. Look away from your computer (do the 20-20-20 trick to help relax your eyes!) and roll out your shoulders. Get up and walk around your desk a couple times. Stretch your wrists. Pull up a YouTube office stretch video and run through it – this one from the Mayo Clinic is proven effective and takes literally two minutes.
It’ll only take about two minutes, but doing this on the reg will do you a world of good when it comes to avoiding aches and keeping your focus and energy levels up.
3. Pace While You Talk
Have a phone call to make? As long as you’re not stuck on Zoom with video on, slip on a headset and pace while you talk.
If you can use your mobile phone and make it a quick walk outdoors, awesome! But simply pacing around the room will help get some more steps in while you’re chatting. It may even help you focus better on what the other person is saying, as the physical motion can keep you from getting distracted by thinking about what you’re going to say next or what’s for dinner tonight.
4. Take a Dance Break
When endless Zoom meetings or yet another TPS report has you wanting to claw your own eyes out because you’ve been stuck at your desk so long, give yourself a break…a dance break!
Take just 3-4 minutes to cue up your favourite song on Spotify or YouTube and dance like no one’s watching – because let’s face it, if you’re working from home, no one is anyway. Or pull up a choreographed dance fitness video like one from Fitness Marshall and get your groove on. You’ll get your heart rate up, make yourself laugh, and be better able to face that next damn meeting.
At the office? I’ve actually done this with headphones and my phone in the bathroom before. It’s a little tricky in a stall, but if you’ve got a single-user walk-in restroom available, you can have a silent disco-style dance party all to yourself for 3-5 minutes with no one being the wiser.
Trust me, it’s far from the weirdest thing that’s been done in that bathroom.
5. March While Heating Up Lunch
Okay, you’re going to have to accept that you’ll look like a lunatic. If you’re in your own house, cool…only the cat will think you’re crazy, and he already thinks that.
But seriously – marching in place while you’re waiting for your lunch to heat up in the microwave is a great way to increase your step count when you weren’t doing anything anyway.
6. Drink More Water
Hear me out. This is actually a way to improve your health, up your focus, and get more movement in the day! Seriously, it’s an easy three-fer.
Often, when you feel hungry, foggy, tired, or just plain sucky, you’re actually dehydrated. Downing a glass of water on the regular can help combat that.
Plus, drinking more water means getting more movement for two reasons:
- You need to refill your glass or bottle.
- You’re going to have to go to the bathroom more often, and therefore get up more.
Oh, and try using a smaller cup or water bottle (say, 16 ounces instead of 32) to make yourself get up to refill more often.
See? Told you this one was an easy win.
7. Use the Farthest Restroom
And speaking of which, you can add even more steps if you use the restroom furthest from where you are. Yes, this means planning a tiny bit ahead for your bathroom break instead of darting into the nearest one, but you’ll get even more steps when you get up to go.
Only have one bathroom – say, when you’re working from home? Take a lap around the apartment or house after you go and before you return to your workspace.
Action Steps
So the action steps on this one are…well, kinda straightforward.
- Commit to doing one – just one – of these suggestions every day for the next week.
- Move your butt.
- Tell me in the comments below how you added 60 seconds of movement to your day and how you feel!
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