“You were noticed negatively in the last Teams meeting.”
A colleague called me yesterday.
Supposedly, I was vacuuming in the background.
I wasn’t vacuuming. I was doing weight lifting.
And I would do it again, any time.
Here is why:
The meeting was pure information exchange. Listening. Answering questions. No slides. No workshop. No presentation.
I don’t sit at my desk for that. That would be wasted time.
What most people don’t know: When I move, I listen better. Less mental distraction. More focus.
Movement is not a contradiction to attention. Movement is the prerequisite for it.
What nobody noticed either: I worked through my lunch break for this. The hour I usually train.
The result: One hour of meeting became one hour of Deep Work. Same performance. Better distribution.
Don’t get me wrong: If the house is on fire, I’ll sit at my desk for 12 hours. No discussion.
But when nothing urgent is pending, then I decide in which mode I work.
To managers who find this inappropriate: If you only pay market average salaries, exactly this freedom is what retains talent. Not the fruit basket. Not the mission statement. It’s the autonomy.
To colleagues who find this inappropriate: If more people did this, fewer would drop dead from cardiovascular disease in their late 50s or sit at the doctor’s with a broken back.
Here is the truth:
Politeness is not sitting position. Politeness is attention.
And that has never been better.