What if you burned out, and put in place a one year goal to remove yourself from your business completely?

What if, after achieving that goal and enjoying a couple of years of entrepreneurial freedom, you ended up in hospital with a blown L5-S1 disc in your lower back, along with the fact that you needed invasive spine surgery that was going to have you on the operating table for 6-hours and facing a recovery period of 6-months, to a year… to fix it?

Well, welcome to my life!

All that happened to me in 2012, and I’m happy to say I came out on top of it all with a fixed back and a new focus on health and wellness.

During my recovery I started researching into stand-up desks. I had heard of them before, and even knew of a couple of people that were already using them, but, I had never tried one for myself – how I wish I’d decided to invest in a stand-up desk years back (pun intended!), as it probably would have saved me from needing surgery.

The importance of looking after our health as entrepreneurs is often swept under the rug. Ignored. Pushed to one side.

It shouldn’t be that way.

I invested in a stand-up desk shortly after my recovery period had come to an end and I ‘graduated’ from physiotherapy – it was one of the best moves I’ve made towards living a healthier lifestyle as an entrepreneur, and it’s one I wanted to introduce to you, properly, so that you can perhaps give it a serious thought.

My Personal Stand-up Desk Gear

Now, I agree that we all have different tastes when it comes to things like furniture – especially when it’s in our home.

However, I thought a suitable place to start ‘showing’ you these desks would be to simply show you mine. And not just the desk – the full ‘set up’ that I’ve adopted with the main component – the standup desk itself.

The Desk

The one I have is the MultiTable Adjustable Height Standing Desk with Manual Base. This is the base only, which means its totally customizable. I picked a smooth table top with a slight design to it, but I know several other business owners that have this and just picked up a simply desk top from Ikea for next to nothing. It’s super easy to put together, and just as easy to operate.

As you can see from the side view image above, there is plenty of room on the desk to work in comfort and I find that standing also gives me a slight ‘birds eye view’ of the desk and therefore helps me keep it cleaner and less cluttered!

The Mat

An additional, important part of my personal set-up is the standing mat that I use. Mine is the Imprint Comfort Mat Nantucket Series and helps with supporting my foot arches (I have high ones!), as well as easing any back and neck fatigue. This is the perfect addition to when you decide to invest in a stand-up desk. I thoroughly recommend you get a mat if you go down this route – it makes the transition so much easier, and just feels great – in, or out of shoes! 

And… The Chair

Obviously, I’m not standing all day long. The chair I have in my home office (I also have the exact same chair in my company HQ, too – it’s that good!) is the ErgoHuman ME7ERG Black Mesh Executive Chair w/ Headrest. I use it for around 30% of my working day… the rest of the time I stand.

What if (lack of) Office Space is an Issue?

I’ve been around enough startup’s and entrepreneurs to know that sometimes space is a constraint – especially if they’re working from home. If you’re working in a small environment, you can try grabbing a mini stand-up desk.

The one I like the look of is this one from X-Elite Pro. It fits a laptop perfectly, along with space for a mouse and additional bits and pieces, too. However, the really cool thing about this desk is that it folds up, so you can really save space.

Another couple of cool resources for standup desks are:

• This great article on Lifehacker
• The brilliant selection of standup desks from the guys over at Varidesk
• These sweet dsigns from the team at Updesk

No matter what way you decide to go with getting a standup desk into your office, the fact that you’ll be doing it is all that really matters.

I love my standup desk and wouldn’t be with it now – and I’m pretty sure that you’ll feel the same way, too!

What did you think today’s post? I’d love to know. Please tweet me, or drop me a message on Facebook. If you have entrepreneurial friends that you think could do with this post as a resources, please share it with them. I’d greatly appreciate it!