Introduction
Those with jobs or mind domain paths, students, or mental workers, likely spend a significant amount of time at a desk.
The average person self-reports being seated for about 9 hours a day. This 9 hours is not isolated entirely to the desk, but the wisdom below can still apply to the coffee table when seated at the couch, as well as other locations.
People often underestimate how much they sit each day. A sedentary lifestyle has numerous health drawbacks and no rewards. We are made to use and pursue mastery with our bodies.
To pursue mastery in body and mind is divine.
If you spend a significant amount of time at a desk, you should invest in a sit/stand desk.
- We recommend the Apex Elite Desk for a “buy it for life” desk you can keep for at least a decade.
A sturdy sit/stand desk is an investment that pays off. Get the highest quality one you can afford. If you found one you love and it’s a little outside your budget, get it. You should view your desk as something you will have for at least a decade, if not for 20-30 years, or for life. Consider this purchase carefully. Think about color, model, where you’ll place it, and other important considerations.
If you can buy something for life, like a desk, you never have to think about it again, removing a distraction for life.
Consider keeping these items on your desk.
Items to keep on your desk:
- Water bottle
- Timer
- Grip trainers and hand dexterity tools
- Inspirational Totems
- Notebook & writing tool
More information about each item below.
Water bottle
Being seated or standing at the desk is the perfect opportunity to hydrate. By hydrating at your desk, you will encourage taking breaks from your work to go to the bathroom, so you do not live a sedentary lifestyle, amongst all of the numerous benefits of optimal hydration.
Buy a high-quality metal, not plastic, water bottle that you can have for the next ten years, if not longer. Think deeply about the bottle you want, so you get one that you can build a long-term relationship with.
You want to have long-term relationships with most of your possessions.
Long relationships are more valuable than short ones, as relationships are investments that go both ways, which includes object to individual, as well as interpersonal relationships.
When you own a water bottle for years, it becomes yours. Not the brand that made it, it becomes an extension of you. It becomes part of your identity. Think deeply on this.
Stainless steel water bottle recommendations:
- Takeya 32oz bottle – top pick – can be swung by the handle for an improvised weapon
- IRON °FLASK 64 oz Stainless Steel Water Bottle
Timer
A timer is important for taking breaks while at the desk to engage your body. Your timer should be something physical, like a timer cube or an hourglass, as opposed to using your phone or a smartwatch. Something you can see while working. Whatever timer you use should be aesthetically appealing to nourish your spirit.
You shouldn’t be using your phone, or scrolling, or other pursuits of pleasure while working.
Timer cubes look great on the desk and are the easiest timer to use.
Using a phone as a timer introduces distractions, which is why using a non-tech timer is superior.
Timer recommendations:
- Modern Black rotating Pomodoro timer cube
- Large 60 Minute darkwood Hourglass Timer
- Digital Hourglass Timer, Rechargeable Magnetic Visual Timer
Inspirational Totems
Have one or multiple in-sight inspiration totems, without cluttering your desk with distractions. This could be a picture of your family, a motivational quote, or some kind of object or statue.
The Japanese Neko Cat, or Money Cat, brings good fortune. It is important to balance faith and science. Cold, unemotional facts do not inspire the spirit, which is bound to faith more than it is tied to logic.
Why are you doing what you are doing? Keep a totem as a reminder for your why or other lucky object.
Even an action figure or model from fiction or reality that inspires you can work. The objective is to surround yourself with reminders that support our movement down our paths.
“I head back to my office, crank up the computer. My lucky hooded sweatshirt is draped over the chair, with the lucky charm I got from a gypsy in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for only eight bucks in francs, and my lucky LARGO name tag that came from a dream I once had. I put it on. On my thesaurus is my lucky cannon that my friend Bob Versandi gave me from Morro Castle, Cuba. I point it toward my chair, so it can fire inspiration into me.”
Steven Pressfield | The War of Art
Grip trainers and hand dexterity tools
Grip strength affects almost every action you take because all reality interfacing begins with your hands. There is no downside to having stronger, more flexible, and more durable hands. Like anything, your hands need proper maintenance if you want them to last.
Captains of crush grip trainers are the iconic hand grippers. The ‘beginner’ grip trainer is the ‘trainer’ and starts at 100 lbs. They start at 60 pounds Weight, and go up to 365 lbs, which only 6 people have been able to do.
The Prohands hand strengthener allows you to strengthen each finger individually, including the thumb. These are made well and will last for a long time.
For hand training at the desk, balance strength and dexterity. Strength with no dexterity creates brittle, weak hands.
These expand-your-hand bands are for hand therapy and are made by Iron Mind, which makes the Captains of Crush Grippers. They help improve tennis elbow as well as carpal tunnel.
You can even wear them as a bracelet to rehab your hands everywhere if you choose.
When pain occurs, do not accept it as a new normal. Fight against normal. Be superior.
Iron mind makes the Green Egg[link], another dexterity-improving hand tool for your repertoire.
Baoding balls were invented in China centuries ago. Warriors used them to strengthen and increase dexterity in the hands; useful for archers and other warriors.
Read our full post on Boading balls above.
Boading balls come in two varieties, singing and non-singing. The singing variety are partially hollow to hold chimes, while the non-singing variant are solid core. At the desk, we recommend the non-singing variant so you can roll balls while in conversation.
You can buy them online from Amazon, but it’s better to purchase them from a local Chinese or other Asian store. Investing in the community is always better than investing in corporate power.
Forearms, like abs, recover faster than other larger muscles. You can train your forearms as long as they aren’t sore. That can be every day. You may not be able to train forearm strength every day, but daily dexterity training may be wise.
Train the forearms during meetings, while reading, or other tasks at the desk that don’t require your hands on mouse and keyboard. Working your hands while working in mind is not multitasking. Multi-tasking is actively pursuing two objectives in the same domain.
If you have an Apex desk there is under-desk storage where you can leave your hand trainers so they are not on your desk. You want to keep your desk as clear of clutter as possible.
Notebook & writing tool
Whether we are at a job that is on the path, or a job that is a means to another path, we need a notebook to capture ideas and notions.
Losing an idea must be avoided at all costs. If no human idea was ever lost, we would have already conquered the stars. For this reason, and untold numbers of others, you keep a notepad and a pencil within reach at all times.
Acquire a notebook and a pencil or pen that you plan to keep for ten years, if not longer, even if it seems unreasonable for both to be in your possession for that long.
A metal mechanical pencil, like this Kuru Toga can last for decades. Pencil situation solved for life.
The fine pen market is massive. Get a refillable pen.
For notebooks, there are refillable notebooks, which may not be the most convenient. In cases like that, find a brand that you can form a relationship with for decades and stay loyal to them, so you never have to shop around. When the notebook is full, you know who you’re buying from.
We recommend Moleskin Classic notebooks.
Aim to have long, healthy, and fulfilling relationships with your possessions.
