You’re Right – Work Is Killing You

Workplace health tip: stand when on the phone

Have you heard? For each additional hour a day spent sitting, your risk of becoming physically disabled increases by about 50 percent — no matter how much exercise you get. *

Think about it for a moment — how long have you been sitting (at a desk, for a meal, in a car) today alone? Now multiply that by five.  Bet it’s more than 23 hours.

If you thought going to the gym or regular exercise was keeping you healthy, think again.  New studies indicate what may be far more important is how many hours a day you sit – in fact, men who reported more than 23 hours a week of sedentary activity had a 64 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than those who reported less than 11 hours a week of sedentary activity. And many of these men routinely exercised.**

But there is hope: people who regularly break up their sedentary time with movement as small as taking one step had healthier waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and triglycerides than people who didn’t take breaks during long periods of sitting. That’s what Australian researchers found in a 2008 study.

The key is to identify what small change you can make in your workday:

My new resolve is to stand when I am on the phone.

Since I started implementing this change, I’ve noticed three things:

  1. Sitting at a desk is a hard habit to break; the sticky note on my handset is imperative as a reminder (see photo).
  2. Standing makes me sound more confident when I make calls – very useful if you are making an offer.
  3. Standing has also made me realize how often I use my computer when I am on the phone (to add an appointment to my calendar, see a web page I want as a reference or do a web search). To really make standing an option, I need an elevated laptop stand.

I’m commited to making this work, so I searched for laptop stand options – you can see pictures and descriptions on my Working Simply Pinterest Board.

What do you do to keep moving at work? Leave a comment below.

click astericks for sources:  *     **

What Hiking Can Teach You About Running a Successful Business

It’s a struggle for me to write a weekly blog post – which is one reason I love it when you comment, and I know something I have shared hit home for you.

For me, just getting into the habit of blog posting weekly was a big step. But, as the terrific infographic below (courtesy of DonCrowther.com)  shows, there is so much more that needs to be done.

However, it’s good to remember that a system does not need to be built all at once. It’s the same ‘one step at a time will get you to the peak (and back again)’ lesson I learned from hiking. Instead of getting overwhelmed, the key is to pick one additional thing to add. Once that is working well, I will return to the infographic and pick another area to add to my blogging process.

I’ve chosen to work first on the ‘On-Page Factors’, because I think I can create a system with my VA to make sure these items are addressed. In fact, after our monthly strategy call this week, she installed Yet Another Related Posts Plugin, which gives you a list of posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site. This will be a great help to include a self-referential link on each page.

What will you pick to implement first? Share your commitment in the comments (and help make my day!).

[stextbox id=”info”]If you want to learn more about how to build systems to help your business grow, register for my FREE TELECLASS  How to Work Less, Make More, & Love Your Business Again! coming up on Aug 21.[/stextbox]

Embedded from DonCrowther.com

 

 

A Quick System to Add Prospects to Your Mailing List

Hand with PDAYou know those times when you’re at the gym or a restaurant or a trade show, talking with someone who’s interested in your business? And you ask if they’d like to get your email newsletter, and they say yes?

Alas, no computer is at hand, so you give them your card or write down their email address. But then they forget to sign up. Or (horrors!) you forget. Or you remember, but still have to take care of getting them onto the list.

Or, you could skip all the hassle with a smartphone solution that gets them signed up in seconds (and yes, you can do this without a smartphone yourself).

Read how to set this up