Changing Your Perspective and Environment

Business Brain the Entrepreneurs podcast, episode 440 for Friday, April 14th. Man, a lot of Fs. 2023. Greetings folks and welcome back to Business Brain here on Casual Friday. We are the show where we take some subject and apply our business brains to it. It might be business related, it might be something in our personal lives, it might be something that intertwines the two because we're all just one person in the end, aren't we? Sponsors for this episode include headspace.com brain30. That's where you're going to go to get Headspace and try it for free for 30 days. We'll talk more about how you're going to do that in a few minutes and why. For now, here in Durham, New Hampshire, I'm Dave Hamilton.

And out here in nice sunny California, I'm Shannon Jean. And I'm happy that it's beautiful out because I want to talk about that today. Talk about headspace and getting into the right headspace. I want to talk about the power of being outside and if you're up for that conversation.

Yeah, I ate lunch outside today. Yeah, well, it's, and yeah, I, I, I have a lot to say about this. We've, we put a hot tub in last summer and because of that we have been outside almost every day this winter.

Nice. Yeah, that's a big deal.

And that's not something we would normally do. Like I normally wouldn't sit outside for 30 to 60 minutes every day because it's frigging, you know, two degrees outside.

Yeah.

But in the hot tub changes everything.

Yeah, it does. It does.

Yeah.

And one of the things I follow a bunch of business advice folks on Twitter and I read constantly about things and I've seen this myself. It's changing your viewpoint and your environment. And one of the big things I've tried to do since I've been working from home, I have an office up back behind my house on our hill at is to get outside more. And I started thinking about it not.

Just the commute to and from the office.

No, that's right, that's right. But, but getting myself out of being in front of my computer, grabbing my laptop, sitting out on the deck, that.

Change.

That changing the framework of what you're looking at can really be valuable. And I would encourage all of our listeners to, to get outside, change your environment as much as you can. And I have a couple of times I've used it even when we, I was in an industrial building, you know, 10 miles away from where I Live now, getting out and walking with an employee to have a conversation. I used to walk around the industrial park. We kind of lived in this big circle or lived. We. Well, I did kind of live there, but the building was in a circle. And so you could take a nice leisurely, you know, about a mile walk and getting someone away from their desk and going on that walk to have a conversation, whether it's something positive or negative to talk about, it changes the whole power dynamic and makes it more collaborative, in my experience. I think that's really a great opportunity to think about, get outside, whether you take your dog out, whether you do whatever, just to get your mind free of sitting at your desk, looking at a computer the whole day. The other thing I really benefited from being outside is when I sold Tech Restore and I was talking with the potential buyer. You know, I asked them for like an hour each day so we could have a discussion about just my whole philosophy and how things worked with the business and the foundation of, you know, your customer relationships and all these kinds of things. And I would jump on the phone and I would just go for a walk and I would have this long conversation. But getting myself away from the office, away from the, those interruptions was terrific. Away from your desk is really powerful and I would encourage you to embrace it. Especially this time of year.

It's great any time of year, but this time of year, especially in the northern hemisphere, it's perfect for it. Yeah, we're. We're in that central executive mode of our brains, right? That's used like for problem solving, decision making, goal oriented behaviors. That's what we're like that when we're. When I'm at my desk, that's where my head is. Right. And you need to get out of that. Finding different ways to hit that reset button in our brains, right in my brain is what I'm looking for. I was reading an article this morning that listening to music can do that too. Especially for that moment mid afternoon, you're losing attention. Some people say, oh, now is when I need coffee. Coffee doesn't necessarily help when you're actually depleted like that. But spending like 10 to 15 minutes not at your desk. And it can be just sitting, listening to music. That's what this article was about. And people using music for their work and such. And it was written by a bunch of neuroscientists. So it had a lot of that stuff in it. In fact, it said that listening to music for 10 to 15 minutes activates your default mode network, which is Kind of the brain area that's, that becomes active when you're not focused on something specific. Right. That.

Yeah, you're kind of looking at it. You get a chance to look at things sideways or from the peripheral if you will, and it gets you out of that frontal mode.

Excessive part of our brains. No, the activating our default mode network is, is something I've spent a lot of time thinking about and, and engineering my life to do in intentionally. Right. Because it can be really good and going out and walking can do the same kind of thing. Just getting away from, like you said, all of that, that stimulus.

Yeah, it's a big deal. You know, I live across the street. I live across the street from a big, a beautiful big Catholic cemetery that's kind of down art down the hill and it's open and it's a great place to go walk. And it. Looking at headstones really makes you think about, wow, I need to get some more stuff done. I don't have much time, you know, so it's a, it really makes you. Okay, what's, what's. What, what should I be focusing on? And, and you can look at things from a different angle. I really find it valuable.

Even when we are in our offices though, there are changes that we can make that can help us stay focused when we're, when we want to be focused. And you made one of those changes recently, Shannon, right? You. What did you do? You, you.

Yeah, I got a new stand up desk and I could I find some pros and cons to it and I'd love to take a dive in and talk about standup desks and how they can help you.

Oh, hey, that means I get to tell you about our sponsor, Headspace. Listen, the last few years have taught us how important mental health is to our overall state of well being and to our ability to use our business brains objectively. Here we're always trying to really look at things and obviously get at the core of them. That's what we do here on business brain. And we can't do that if we're distracted by other things. And this is one of the reasons I really love meditation. And Headspace makes it so easy. Through their guided meditations, their mindfulness practices, their breathing and calming exercises, and so much more, their tools can really help reduce anxiety, boost my mood. The wide range of teachers with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise ensure there's a teacher and content to help you, whether you're a first timer or have been practicing for years. I love some of their Quick ones that I can do in like three to five minutes if I just need a little break to clear my head. Breathe. You're going to love it. Headspace has helped me and more than 100 million people worldwide. And they can help you too. Listen up. You do not want to miss this. We've arranged something special. For a limited time, all of you can try headspace free for 30 days by going to headspace.com brain30 that's B R A I N 30. You won't find this offer anywhere else. You gotta use our link h e A-S-P-A c e.com brain30 to unlock all of Headspace free for 30 days. This is not something they normally do. Headspace.com brain30 and our thanks to Headspace for sponsoring this episode. All right, so tell me about this standing desk. Is, is your entire desk up or did you get one of those sort of convert your desk things?

Yeah, I, I, I, I got one that you set on your desk that's like a riser that you can, you know, make go up and down and, and you know, the funny thing is I've had it for a long time, but it's kind of been shoved back in the corner of my office. Didn't really think it was a good setup because I have multiple monitors, right? And I have my laptop. I was like, well, how am I? And I have another laptop that runs and a Microsoft Surface that runs like 24 hours a day running some software. And I was like, well, how am I going to do all this? It won't fit. But I got a new monitor, a big curved monitor thing. And I thought, okay, now I'm going to make it work. And it's great. I mean, I love standing up and walking around when I'm on the phone anyway, which is often I really enjoy and benefit from just movement. So, yeah, I come in and I've committed to at least half the day. I'm going to be standing. And first important thing, got to have a thick rubber mat to stand on. I'm on a tile floor.

No. So I've been on a standing desk for probably 12 years now.

Okay.

It started, believe it or not, because I started podcasting before my studio was finished being built. I had my podcasting rig down in my office, but it was a separate computer that I used for it because I knew that it was going to be up here in the studio eventually. And I just found we were recording. You know, it started, it wasn't a part time thing, but it Was kind of, I treated it like a side hustle.

Right.

I had like what I was doing during the day and then we were doing this podcast at night. So we would start recording at 8 at night. It would be 10, 10:30 when we finished. And I found that standing for the show kept me energized. It kept me engaged. My blood was pumping. I was, you know, it was, it was good. So, so I did that. Moving up to the studio here where my desk is, is actually in kind of an alcove. It's, it's down, difficult to stand. So I have not stood here for the last 17 years. But in my office, I wound up going to a standing desk. And I have a hydraulic, like a desk where the entire desk is, is hydraulic. It goes up and down.

Okay. Yeah.

I purchased this before they came out with these, these riser ideas. And it's interesting to wealth to take this tangent back. Get yourself a rubber mat. I'm going to see if I can find the one that I have in, in, in my Amazon cart. And if I can. Yeah, yeah, I will, I will put it out there because to your point, Shannon. Yeah. You need to stand on something cozy and, and they make mats specifically for this. So you want something that's really going to help. Yeah, I, I wound up, I got my standing desk. It's adjustable. You know, I can, I can sit, I can stand. When I got it, I stood for almost a year. Not entirely. I stood at my desk for almost a year. I would sit down on the couch. At night, I would sleep in a bed laying down. But at work, I stood for almost a year. In fact, I forgot that my desk would go down. And then I got a cold. And I just found myself powered through one day and the next day by 11:00am I'm like, I just can't do this. I'm like, wait, wait, I can lower this down. So I lowered my desk down and I moved my rubber mat out of the way. I brought my chair back in. It was like, oh, thank goodness. Right? I forgot what this was like. And now I find that I go, it's about, you know, two week stretches where I'll be up and like using my desk in a standing capacity all day every day. And, and then something will make me say, oh, yeah, I gotta sit. And then I'll sit and that'll happen for a week or two. And then I'll be like, oh man, I like, I can't sit anymore. Yeah. And I, I, I really find it helpful where I, if it's Sometimes I, I find that I have to stand because like my back, I just don't want to sit anymore, you know, and, and conversely, if my, like my feet or whatever, like I gotta, I gotta, I gotta sit now. I can't stand anymore. But when I know that I'm going to be on a conference call or a zoom call with someone, and especially if it's like one of those important calls, I will almost always take that standing because it keeps me engaged. It, you know, lets me appear energetic and not just like. Because if you're sitting in a chair, man, you can slouch back and look lazy. Even though I know I'm not lazy, but, well, really I am lazy. I just don't want anybody to know it. And so like I find that like my energy is up better. Just like if I'm giving a presentation, I'm not going to sit and give that presentation. I'm going to stand. You know, I'm like, there's an audience I want to.

Moving around is.

Yeah, yeah.

And I really like it. What I found is that there are certain tasks that for me lend itself to standing up and what I'm doing, you know, research and, or managing working photos and graphics and kind of images and doing some stuff on the web. Short form writing. Great. No problem. So. And I like getting up here in the morning and continuing to stand. It makes me feel more productive.

Yes.

In turn, that feeling in fact makes me more productive.

Yep.

And so I've, I've kind of just created this circular system here and so I start getting things going and be, you know, before you know it, it's, you know, half the day's gone. I break for lunch, I get outside and then when I come back up, I typically need to dive in deeper and do some more long form writing and working on a new book. And you know, so I'll, I'll take the riser down to where I can sit. I can rest my elbows even. Maybe you're not supposed to when you write. I don't even know if I do that.

I don't know.

But anyway, it's comfortable for me and I can sit down and get lots of stuff done and that works really well for me. So yeah, I think it's a great addition to my work setup and it's just something new and different and that's. It kind of come a full circle to what we started at the beginning of the episode. Just breaking up the grind. The monotony of your day to day is really great for Getting your, getting out of your, you know, your thought process and opening it up to different ideas.

I, I couldn't agree more. Yeah, no, these things all, like, there's a lot of advice in this episode, man. Like, this is good. I'm gonna start doing more walks. It's good. Yeah, yeah. It's important. Yeah, man. Thanks so much for hanging out with us, folks. Thanks for visiting our sponsor course. Headspace.com brain30 what did I do? I hit the wrong button. There it is. Now I'm not muted anymore. Headspace.com brain30 make sure to send in your feedback to feedbackusinessbrain show. Are you using a standing desk?

How.

When do you stand? When do you sit? We'd love to hear all of that stuff because hearing your ideas, hearing our ideas, we all share. It's a wonderful thing. Keep living that charm life, huh? We'll see you next week.

Hey there. One more tidbit for you today. If you find yourself getting approached by people that want to partner with you to create a business, they think they have a great idea. They just want your help to implement it. You need the Business Brain Working Agreement. The Working Agreement is a super simple document. It kind of acts like a partner blueprint for who will be accountable for which tasks, how things will work, how money will be handled for the new venture, and a lot more little details. The Working Agreement is also a test. Ask your potential partner to fill out the details and you'll often flush out people who may not be as accountable as you would want in a partner. And maybe they don't have the follow through that you would expect. So it's a great place to start and see how things may work out. We first mentioned the Working agreement in episode 132 and you can listen by searching for the number 132@businessbrain show or or find the link in the show notes for this week's episode. You can also find a link to a Working Agreement template by scrolling to the bottom of any page at businessbrain Show. So check it out and cheers to your success.