What to do When You’re Trapped…

Last week instead of being the presenter, I was coaching new presenters.  For two days I had to sit, watch, take notes and critique.  From a movement perspective, I felt absolutely trapped....Sitting for two days.

As you may know, I'm a big advocate of keeping the body moving as often as possible throughout the day.  I had to get creative.  A couple of times each hour I would stand up at the back of the room and take notes.  I stretched my back, neck and shoulders often.  I rolled my shoulders and rotated my ankles.  I frequently switched which leg was crossed on top.  I fidgeted without being obnoxious.  During the breaks I took two flights of stairs to use the rest room even though there was one on the floor I was on.  During one break I went outside for 10 minutes.

There's always something we can do to move.  The longer we sit, the lower our energy gets.  Our focus starts to fade and our productivity tanks.  Keep the brain and body functioning optimally by moving frequently throughout the day.  Make it a habit that you never go longer than 45 minutes without stretching or fidgeting and no longer than 2 hours without getting up out of your seat and moving.  Set a timer - your watch, phone, or pop-up screen - to make sure you do it consistently as it's sometimes easy to get sucked into what you're doing and lose track of time.  It's not a big deal from a schedule perspective, but it definitely makes a difference to your energy, concentration and productivity.

How long have you been sitting?  It might be time to get up and move...

Oh, and just as an aside, be careful when using "tied to a chair" as a search tool in Google images.  Just sayin'.