By Dennis Shanoff
An irony of our love of the outdoors and our great appreciation of nature and natural environments is that we at Vermont Woods Studios Furniture spend quite a bit of time each day indoors in front of a computer! That’s just the nature of a web business I suppose. We sure do need to be “hard wired” or “connected” for a lot of our eCommerce business functions.
Manjula, Kendall and Dennis on a Walk and Talk by The Brown Farm on West Road in Vernon
But for a lot of us these days, our work days are much less physical then they use to be. Some days it just seems that you could spend the entire day in your chair as everything you need either comes in or goes out via the computer. We don’t even have to get up out of our chair to send or receive faxes anymore! But then what about times where you don’t need the computer like meetings and discussions? Times when we can work unplugged? Just everyone roll your chairs a little closer together?
Well we have found a better alternative that works great for us and gets us up, out & about! You see in our office we have taken to walking meetings, or what we like to call our “Walk & Talks”. Near our office we have the luxury of having some great scenic, and quiet rural roads. So most days of the week we take to the streets and conduct our “non computer” work during our walk. Just a quick divided road crossing and then under the railroad bridge to the right and we are in perfect walking territory!
Dennis, Peggy and Manjula at Annette's Malhanna Farm on Pond Road in Vernon
These quiet tree lined streets lead us past dairy & horse farms, corn fields, and into some nice residential neighborhoods. Ringing phones replaced by singing birds and rustling leaves! Moving more then just your hands and fingers! And if we time it right the cows will be by the fence waiting for us or my favorite black & white pony will be in view. It seems most of our best ideas and problem solving takes place out on these walks. We hope you work in an area that provides a quiet and safe walking area. If so give walking meetings a try! It just feels great to get some fresh air, real light, stretch the legs and just be up, out & about!
