Does a change in your productivity solution last?
At the client I am working currently I have been parked at a sitting desk for the past four months. Prior to this I was working from home and could stand and work when I liked (not easily, but I could make it happen.) As of last night I received the new standing desk attachment for my desk to allow me to do just that...stand and work.
There are dozens of stories about the benefits of standing and working, from improved circulation to enhanced mental clarity. Personally I'm looking to see how well my concentration holds up, my physicality supports standing all day (or most of it), and does this help my mental focus. Do I have a hypothesis? No, aside from the fact it should be much more difficult to be drowsy after lunch when I'm standing up...but that is yet to be proven.
Changes we make to our physical work environment can give us a temporary spark of productivity and surge of energy in being productive. The challenge is does it continue over time or does it drop off significantly and leave us back where we started. The same analysis can be applied to productivity tools and processes. Does the new tool keep us moving forward or does it drop off quickly as our short attention span falls by the way side?
When evaluating our personal productivity solutions, and yes the physical is just as important as the mental and procedural, we need to consider what will happen should the experiment fail. When I think about it more, the better way to look at the results is no experiment is a failure. Following the Edison model, you've just found a way that won't work for you. You can move on to something new or move back to something tried and true (rhyme unintentional.)
Make sure when you're tinkering with your personal productivity solutions you have a fall back plan (with a standing desk that could be literal) in case things don't work out. If you're not sure how to approach adjusting your solution, ask. You can stop by the Being Productive group on Facebook if you would like some ideas and feedback on ways to improve your own personal productivity solution.
Now, productive people...back to work. :)