Assuming you've read our other blogs on Posture and 5 Tips for Working From Home, this will be a quick and easy read. If you haven't, then maybe circle back around to them after reading this one to fill in any gaps.
As we've mentioned in previous posts, try to carve out an area to conduct business. This will ideally limit distractions, get your mind in the game, and make you more productive.
Here is a list of things Apex recommends to its clients for their home office needs:
Neutral keyboard or this one
Make transitions easier for yourself so that you're more likely to work intelligently wherever you set up. For instance, if you have an office and/or an area for work within another room but you still insist upon working from your couch, plan to make each area posture friendly. We don't unhook the 50 lb mount from our dedicated office and lug it to our living room work desk. Although we'd love to have another mount, they're not cheap. So we've got risers to set our laptops upon - but there's an issue. In doing so, we've optimized our back and neck posture, but now have completely screwed up our elbow and wrist posture. We solved this problem by getting a usb keyboard and mouse. Now we can have optimal posture throughout and not have to carry items back and forth from the office. It's not about being too lazy, it's about setting yourself up for success.
Let's tackle the whole work from the couch thing. No, your boss probably doesn't want you watching This is Us while "working". But you're incredibly efficient at crying and working, so you do it anyways. So you plop your laptop upon, well...your lap with your legs outstretched upon your ottoman. While it might be a great position for hugging a pillow while watching a gripping, tear jerker, it's less than ideal from a postural standpoint. In order to make this a slightly less terrible position, add a lap table to help your neck and shoulders out. And once your episode is over, you need to get up, mobilize a bit, then get back to your posture chair, or better yet, standing position.
Fighting the battle against posture isn't about being perfect all the time. But it is about making better choices most of the time. You'll get better at recognizing the positions that are bad, and trade them in for those that are good...or even great! Eventually, given enough time and consistency, it becomes natural for you to choose the good, and feel uncomfortable when you don't.
