Combining productivity and staying fit

Two things I'm fanatic about are productivity and working out. I try to squeeze every ounce of productivity out of my work day and I rarely miss a day of working out. If I haven't worked out, chances are I'm on the proverbial death bed with the flu. When I worked in the typical corporate environment, I had a gym membership. One of my little productivity habits was printing out non-urgent emails and articles that I'd read while on a machine where I could read while I worked out. Since my "gym" is now the pic you see on the right, I had to make some adjustments since it's impossible to read while running, snowshoeing, skiing, mt. biking or climbing.

There are two ways I've solved that issue. One thing I do to organize my week is write down "think" items. These are items where I don't need to be at my desk. In fact, being at my desk can be an impediment to clear thinking. Those think items go with me on my mountain adventures along with a voice recorder if/when I have a nugget I don't want to forget. As I've said many times, most great ideas come don't come while you are inside a conference room or office. The other productivity enhancement is listening to podcasts. One of my criteria for the MP3 player I bought was to also have a voice recorder so I can also capture thoughts while I'm out and about. My current podcast subscriptions include Joseph Jaffe's Across the Sound, Adam Curry's The Daily Source Code, iMediaConnection's podcasts, and various podcasts from NPR and Business Week.

Brad Feld has taken this productivity bent to a whole new level with his Tredputer. The thought of jumping on a conference call while I'm on a hike or while I'm on a trainer bike has definitely crossed my mind but I'm generally at too high of a heartrate to be able to do it without irritating the others with panting. For now, I'm happy with my approach to productivity.