Walk While U Work

This week's Time Magazine featured a story on Steelcase's Walkstation, an adjustable-height desk with a treadmill built in. Talk about multitasking! (photo from Steelcase's website) You can see a video of editor-at-large Belinda Luscombe using the desk and explaining how it works here.

It goes up to a maximum speed of 2 mph, so you can't get all sweaty or try to train for a marathon while you watch YouTube. I am wondering if I can retrofit my existing treadmill to hold my laptop? That would be awesome! I do spend so much time sitting here at my desk writing and reading…that would be perfect. Anyone know how to do that?

I don't think this desk is particularly good for storage. They should have put in a special shelf just for your extra shoes– see how her heels are just sitting there on the floor? Obviously you'd need to have your walking shoes stored there permanently, right?

In general, multitasking is not typically the best idea unless one of the simultaneous activities is rather mindless, like walking or folding laundry. Otherwise, managing two important mental tasks at once reduces the brainpower available for either task. So, while people think they are saving time by multitasking, they are actually doing both tasks ineffectively. This is illustrated beautifully by the following exercise (click here to go to YouTube if you don't see the embedded video player):

Here is a text version of the test if you can't watch the video. Name aloud the COLOR of each word:

Red Green Black Blue Yellow Red Blue Black Orange Yellow Green Black Orange Red Blue

Most people have a lot of trouble doing this quickly, because their brains are unable to process both types of information simultaneously. (I apologize to my Kindle readers who are unable to see these colors on their greyscale screens!) This is called the Stroop Effect, named for psychologist John Ridley Stroop.

How did you do? What kinds of multitasking are you successful at doing in your worklife and home life? I like folding laundry and doing dishes while I talk on the phone, and walking while I listen to audiobooks. How about you?

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