As a burned out founder with ADHD, I took a break from tech and did a year as a personal trainer at a big box gym. It was such a great difference from tech work: physical movement, human interaction, paper-based, etc. The high levels of accountability (in addition to physical movement) were extremely satisfying.
I dream of a future of tech work that is more similar to the gym, rather than sitting at a desk. Some kind of augmented reality work space where you intentionally add physical friction (reaching, pulling, pushing), physical objects, human interactions, etc and lots of standing. I imagine the mental rewards of this approach would be really interesting, and you might finish the work day feeling physically energized.
I'm in tech and work from home. I own the home. I get heaps of physical exercise gardening and maintaining the house. Cutting back plants that are too big, putting new planets in. Mowing the lawn. Painting here and there. I have a leak in one of the bedroom ceilings. I built a deck out the back - that was a big job. You know there is also just normal chores around the house that keep me moving. Doing the laundry. Cleaning.
Anyhow, I say embrace your chores. Don't pay somebody to do them for you.
I agree, as a child I was mostly indoors and non-practical. Typical techie nerd reading a lot of books. Having a home now, I've started learning to fix so many things. Today I just replaced 2 shower taps (washers and valves) for a leaky shower. Was a little short on time and had some issues unscrewing the spindle so reached out to a plumber and was quoted $350 so screw that, I finished it myself. Anyone can do this with the help of a YouTube video. For all its faults, YouTube is an absolute treasure for DIY.
Cooking is another one I really leaned into during COVID. I think it's important to scratch a creative itch in these activities since many of my hobbies are consumption-oriented e.g. video games.
This. So much this. Over quarantine I found myself spending increasing amount of time cooking after coding time. Just because the difference of doing something productive with your hands is so sorely missed.
If something bridged those two, like Minority report but with even more movement, it would be gold.
Someone ITT mentioned warehouse jobs and workout endorphins coloring our view, but I think its more missing just moving things around with your hands.
This is a great comment, I've found myself wishing for a work environment that provides us with these human elements. We are animals that are designed to move!
Walking meetings, some type of AR technology so we can perform email responses/research while moving, and physical interaction with digital systems is the future I want.
This is such a fascinating story, I was literally thinking about this a few months ago when Equinox randomly contacted me. Also identify as an (ex)founder with ADHD. Would love to hear from you and hear about this journey if you're interested in connecting. jason @ jasonshen
I dream of a future of tech work that is more similar to the gym, rather than sitting at a desk. Some kind of augmented reality work space where you intentionally add physical friction (reaching, pulling, pushing), physical objects, human interactions, etc and lots of standing. I imagine the mental rewards of this approach would be really interesting, and you might finish the work day feeling physically energized.