MBA1125 Q&A Wednesday: I heard you use a standing desk? What are the benefits?

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Hey O. Welcome to the Hundred Dollar RMBA Show. Because your business means too much for you not to do everything you can to get better every day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the Hundred Dollar mba, a complete business training and community online and today's episode is a Q and A Wednesday episode. On our Q and A Wednesday episodes, I answer a question from one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over at Omar MBA Net so I can answer your question right here on Q and A Wednesdays. Today's question is from Kim and Kim asks, I heard that you use a standing desk. What are some of the benefits? Why did you switch? Yes, that is true Kim. I do use a standing desk. So does Nicole, my partner. And yes, I'll answer that question in today's episode. Why I switched to a standing desk? What kind of compelled me to do it? What are the benefits that I'm receiving from it? What? Why do I continue to use a standing desk and what are some of the challenges? I'm at my desk at least eight hours a day. The other hours I'm recording this podcast in a recording booth so a way I spend Those eight hours really matters. Anything you do for a long period of time consistently will have an effect on you. So I'll be sharing my experience with switching to a standing desk. And why am I sticking to it? So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. So in today's Q and A Wednesday, Kim asks, I heard that you use a standing desk. What are some of the benefits? Well, first, let me talk about why I switched to a standing desk. I made the switch around four years ago, and it's been one of the best productivity moves I've ever made. But I initially made the switch because my upper back was really in pain. I would have a constant sore back, especially around my shoulder blades. And of course, it's because I was hunched over my laptop with when I was sitting down in front of my desk. Again, I'm spending tons of hours, eight hours at least a day on my computer. And it's really hard to be mindful of your posture when you're sitting down and you're, you know, really in the zone working. I started googling and doing some research to help alleviate this pain. I didn't just want something short term, like a massage. I wanted something so I wouldn't have this pain anymore for the long term.

And the.

And that's when I discovered that there's a lot of people that are moving to standing desks. This is back in 2014. And some of the benefits. Now, I gotta be honest, when I first heard about that, I was like, oh, my God. Standing all day, that's gonna be killer. But I'll have to be honest, I don't stand the whole day. And I'll talk about how I incorporate sitting in a bit with the standing desk, but for the vast majority of the day, I am on my feet. But I was ready to take on the challenge. And Nicole as well, she was like, okay, let's do it together. So we got ourselves two standing desks. Now, that's one of the first drawbacks. Standing desks are usually more expensive than a regular desk. I don't know why, but they've gotten less and less expensive over the years. I remember four years ago, they were super pricey. I mean, we're talking about, you know, $2,000. If you wanted one that goes up and down like a motorized one. I just saw one in Ikea that's like a manual crank for, like, $150. That's pretty much the price of a big regular desk now. So that's one of the biggest drawbacks you know, even though it's not super expensive now, it is a purchase. You need to make a purchase, and you make an investment in this. I have to say, it's a great investment. You feel so much better, and you actually do better work. And I'll explain why. But let me get through some of the drawbacks. The other drawback is it takes getting used to. When you're standing all day, that first couple days, the first week, really, your legs are going to start feeling tired. You start shifting your weight from one to the other. One of the things that really helped when I got started was a fatigue mat. This is basically a thick kind of rubber mat that you can put under your feet when you're standing in front of your desk. Because sometimes, even if you have carpet, it's not enough cushioning for your feet all day. You can also wear shoes on the mat if you'd like. If you have a home office, why don't you wear some slippers? That would work too. House slippers. And that's pretty much the major drawbacks. Now, before I get into the benefits, I want to talk about a couple options. One, I definitely recommend getting a desk that can go up and down, a standing desk that can go up and down again. Ikea has one for like, 150 bucks. They even have a motorized one for like $260, which is really, really cool. And it goes quite high. Even if you're tall like me, I'm six five. Or you can get a fixed standing desk, which I got in Amazon, is one that we bought, that you kind of just assemble. And it's just a fixed height according to your height, where, you know, your forearms are parallel to the ground. That way you're typing straight and your posture is proper, and it's good. But then you might be asking, well, how do I adjust if I want to bring it down to sit? If you want to take a break or something? Well, the fix of that is getting a chair that adjusts, like a drafting chair. Those chairs are quite high, and you can sit on those chairs, and you'd be fine in the standing desk. And then you can obviously bring it up and down according to your height. So instead of getting the desk that adjusts, the chair adjusts. Now, the number one benefit I found with a standing desk is my back. My back feels a whole lot better now. It's not totally pain free. Some days I have some pain because I'm hunched over. I'm not conscious of it, but it's far better than it Used to be. Overall, my back feels a whole lot better. Number two, it allows you to stay focused when you're on your feet, You. You're more alert, you're more focused, you're more sort of, how can I say, less prone to distractions because you're not comfortable when you're standing. You're sort of semi uncomfortable. So you just get on with work. When you're sitting in a nice comfortable chair, it's easy to feel comfortable, jump on YouTube, to jump on social media, and just get lost in time. When you're on your feet, you're in a stance of action, of, you know, productivity. The next great benefit is I do a lot of webinars. I'm on camera, I'm on the mic. I do a lot of phone calls and meetings, video calls. And standing is a great energizer. It allows me to also get a lot of air in my lungs when I speak, so I'm able to project my voice properly and speak properly. If you do any kind of recording or live streaming or webinars or anything like that, it's great for that. Plus, you get to move your hands around and be animated. I like using a boom arm. It's about 15 bucks on Amazon that I connect to my USB mic. And I just use my mic right there on the standing desk. And it's really great. Cause I'm hands free and I'm standing. Gives me a lot of energy. Another thing I love about having a standing desk or using one is you don't tend to be lazy when you're standing all the time. When you're standing, you're on your feet. Often if you're on the couch or a comfortable chair, you'll be lazy to get up and do something or make a phone call or do something that you have to do that you have to get up from. Whether it's running an errand or going to a meeting or whatever it is, I find that I'm moving a lot more. It's easier for me to get in and out of my office. I'm just a bit more energetic. And I like that about work, and I like that about the standing desk.

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Today'S Q and A Wednesday episode, question from Kim what are the benefits of using a standing desk? Well, I'm going to add one more benefit that maybe you never thought of. Standing is like exercise and it builds the muscles in your legs and it gives you some stamina. One of the things I noticed is that ever since I moved to a standing desk, when I travel and I have to be on my feet all day, I'm on a walking tour, I'm going around the city by foot, I got to stand in line, I'm standing for the train, I'm not that tired. At the end of the day, I'm actually okay. It's just because I've trained myself to be on my feet all day and I've built the stamina. So even my vacations, my trips, my travels are more enjoyable. A day at a theme park would be a piece of cake. So I highly recommend you consider moving to a standing desk. It's really helped my productivity, my health, my back. And you can always sit if you want to use an adjustable chair or have an adjustable desk and take a break maybe for an hour in the middle of your day while you're like going through emails or things like that. You can always transition by, you know, doing half day sitting, half day standing, and then kick out one hour every day. So make it five hours standing, three hours sitting. You get it. All right, that wraps up today's Q and A Wednesday. If you have a question, you want to ask, don't forget to email me over@omar00mba.net we'll answer your question right here on Q and A Wednesday on the show. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. Your work environment, your office is really how you spend most of your day and most of your life. So optimize it to benefit you as much as possible, whether that's making the investment of getting a standing desk or buying a few plants to spruce up your office. You spent a lot of time working on your business. You might as well make it enjoyable and not that painful. All right, I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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