What 9 Years in Business Taught Me: Movement Is the Most Underrated Productivity Tool

Picture a emblematic time astatine your office. People typing astatine desks. Sitting successful meetings. Sitting successful the room grabbing lunch. You tin spell done an full workday without opinionated up once. That should interest immoderate laminitis trying to get existent output from a team.

I’ve spent 9 years building and scaling BetterMe, and if there’s 1 instruction I support returning to, it’s this: activity is 1 of the astir underrated drivers of productivity successful business, and astir companies dainty it arsenic a wellness perk alternatively of infrastructure. A meditation stipend aliases a gym reimbursement doesn’t hole a workday designed astir sitting. Rethinking the workday itself does.

Here’s really I attack it — for myself and for my team.

What happens erstwhile group extremity moving

Think astir a lazy, couch-bound Sunday. After a time for illustration that, do you consciousness energized? I don’t. I consciousness sluggish, slower and moreover elemental decisions get harder. That’s the nonstop authorities employees extremity up successful aft spending a time moving from 1 chair to another.

The qualities we worth astir astatine activity — creativity, intelligence clarity, problem-solving — each trust connected bully humor travel and oxygen reaching the brain. Movement supports both. When you move, circulation improves, much oxygen reaches the encephalon and cognitive usability sharpens.

There’s a existent economical lawsuit too. The McKinsey Health Institute estimates that improving worker wellness and well-being globally could create up to $11.7 trillion successful worth each year. Much of that comes from higher productivity and little presenteeism — group who are technically astatine activity but obscurity adjacent their afloat capacity.

What my time really looks like

Staying physically progressive isn’t a wellness wont for me. It’s 1 of the devices that keeps my power and attraction wherever they request to be. Instead of squeezing successful a workout erstwhile I tin find time, I’ve built activity into the building of my day.

In the morning, I commencement pinch astatine slightest an hr of movement. Most days it’s Pilates aliases yoga. A fewer times a week I get retired for tennis aliases golf. By the clip I beryllium down to work, I already consciousness switched on. During the day, I schedule short breaks for stretching, stepping aliases a speedy exercise. Even 10 minutes tin reset your energy. In the evening, I slow things down pinch quieter mindfulness practices — meditation, chanting mantras and Pranayama breathing. It reduces accent and clears intelligence noise. When I spell to slumber pinch a calm mind, I aftermath up much focused.

None of this is unusual. What’s different is treating it arsenic non-negotiable and letting it style really the workday is structured.

The changes that really move the needle

Culture isn’t purely top-down, but it helps erstwhile activity sends the first signal. When a squad sees a laminitis measurement distant for a locomotion betwixt meetings, others consciousness for illustration they tin do the aforesaid without overthinking it.

From there, a fewer circumstantial changes make it easier for everyone.

Make the situation movement-friendly. Adjustable desks that fto group move betwixt sitting and standing. Whiteboards, java and supplies placed farther from workstations. Open abstraction to agelong aliases locomotion betwixt calls. A dedicated betterment area pinch soft lighting, plants and a position outside.

Rethink gathering culture. Not each gathering needs to hap sitting down. Turn 1:1s into walks. Make stand-up meetings unrecorded up to their sanction astatine a opinionated table. And connected immoderate calls, make cameras optional — opportunity upfront that they tin enactment disconnected truthful group consciousness free to stretch, locomotion aliases move while listening. That 1 alteration did much for our gathering civilization than thing other we tried.

Create shared rituals. A speedy agelong earlier immoderate gathering that runs much than an hour. A short workout aft 30 minutes of sitting. A Friday step-count check-in pinch a play leaderboard. Small habits, shared by the team, springiness the time structure.

Make it social. It’s easier to enactment accordant erstwhile you’re not doing it alone. Sign up for a measurement situation arsenic a team. Turn team-building events into thing progressive — badminton alternatively of drinks. Set up a Slack transmission to stock advancement and mini wins.

Block it connected the calendar. If it’s not scheduled, it’s easy to skip. Encourage employees to artifact windows for activity resets. When group spot those blocks connected each other’s calendars, stepping distant stops emotion for illustration thing only they do.

The constituent isn’t to move the agency into a gym. It’s to extremity pretending that 8 hours of sitting produces the champion type of the group you hired.

Why this compounds

A study from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School recovered workers are 13% much productive erstwhile they consciousness amended astatine work. Movement is 1 of the astir direct, cheapest levers a leader has to move that number.

Strong teams don’t conscionable brainstorm together. They move together.

And if it’s been a while since you past stood up, this is simply a bully infinitesimal to do it — and to show your squad it’s okay to do the same.