We’ve all heard that celery is a ‘negative calorie food‘. That is to say that it takes more calories of energy to digest a stalk of celery than the number of calories that the celery contains.

Most of us have learned that by investing 15 to 30 minutes planning each morning, we accomplish more throughout our day—certainly more than we would accomplish without the planning time. The same goes for the weekly review—we gain more than 1 to 2 hours of extra productivity in our week when we are consistent with this. We could call the daily plan and the weekly review and plan both ‘negative time activities’. Sure, they take up time, but they save us more time than they take up.

This evening I was reading a Time Thoughts newsletter. Rodger Constandse wrote, “Researchers found that exercise provided a performance boost of up to 15%. It also improved worker’s overall mood at the end of the day.” He referenced an MSNBC article Exercise may make you a better worker.

I like numbers. Numbers mean things to me. I can get a mental grasp on numbers, play with them, apply them, adjust them. If this 15% thing holds true for me than that means that: in an 8-hour workday, I can get an extra 1.2 hours of productivity, in an 10-hour workday, I can get an extra 1.5 hours of productivity, in an 12-hour workday, I can get an extra 1.8 hours of productivity. According to the article, duration or intensity didn’t matter.

In the study the workers exercised in the middle of their work day. That could have some net effect on the results. I typically exercise early in the morning before I ever begin any real work.

In general though, I like the idea that I can invest 45 to 60 minutes exercising and get that time back throughout my day in increased productivity.

If you have ideas for reasons to exercise that you would like me to consider, feel free to email them to me at webmaster@rickyspears.com.

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