I started my career as a field service tech. Besides the hours of McDonalds behind the wheel of a 1984 Ford LTD – I was mobile; Climbing stairs, lugging monitors, and other physical activity. I then worked in a computer repair shop. On my feet all day – at the workbench. Even at my last few jobs with corporate America, I tried to stay mobile. Taking stairs, working calls, etc. My current job requires no such ambulatory motion. I connect to remote servers and call customers from my fat cushy desk chair. Inside my boring cubicle.

This morning I dropped my leather sofa sized office chair off at the empty cube beside me. I plunked down about 10 pounds of scrap wood, and began lifting my monitors 18″ off the surface of the desk. “What the hell are you doing?” asked some. “Kook!” scoffed others. I had at least mentioned this to management in the past – how it would be nice to pull the monitors up and be able to stand at my desk. “Are you going to stand up all day?” – “Yes,” I replied. “All day… Get it out of your system.”

I built an 18″ stand out of 2 pieces of scrap plywood and some leftover poplar. It took me like an hour to design and build over the weekend. Pictures to follow…

It has certainly been a string of ‘office space’ moments all morning.

My top 5 reasons to stand up while you work:
#1. Health.
Keeps the blood flowing to the feet and legs – heart gets more of a workout.
#2. Productivity
I usually want to snooze at 2:30 in the sofa chair.
#3. Originality
My office mates mock me – because they want to BE me. My personality can’t sleep in a chair. I think that if everyone was able to customize their cube, we’d see more out of the box thinking.
#4. Mobility
When the 9.0 quake hits Irvine or the brush fire spreads – I’m out the door!
#5. Stamina
Being on your feet all day isn’t as bad as slouching to death in a sleepy leather chair.

Break conformity!

I also want to give props to the guys at Pixar for giving me the ‘Eureka’ moment:
Check out this behind the scenes look at Pixar – by “Ain’t It Cool News”