Healthy Work Habits for Great Energy

It’s not hard to notice that puns are our cup of tea. Why tea and not coffee? Well, because although we love [e-spres-oh], we try our best to keep our caffeine intake at a level that won’t get us jumping up and down at 2 a.m.

This might come as a surprise for those who thought of us as glued to our coffee cups, frantically pressing keyboards, but it’s a result of our rather active mindset and set of healthy work and life habits (hey, we try).

We know that great energy comes not only from coffee but from a smart way of living and working. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve at [e-spres-oh], even if sometimes we have our guilty pleasures and indulge in the occasional sweet cheat (we prefer to call it sugar bug).

So, how do we go about our days at [e-spres-oh] and what keeps us coding like there’s no tomorrow? Glad you asked because we were going to tell you anyway.

Start our mornings fresh

Yes, this is the moment when the essential cup of coffee is the hero, but it shares the stage with a breakfast full of goodness. Our attic has everything for us to start fresh. So we brew our coffee and we mix our breakfast in a jiffy before we start pressing keyboards.

Yummy breakfast from Muffie Jar (for when we’re too lazy to make our own)

Sometimes, the guys even ask themselves existential questions such as “how do you go about squeezing almonds for milk?” only to reach out for the good-old-fashion milk, because they simply cannot get a decent answer. Well, diversity is key.

Arnold pondering upon the meaning of breakfast

Snack on yummy-ness

Coding does require a lot of brain energy and we need to keep fueling to keep going. Our snacks of choice? Fruit deliciousness all the way: bananas, pears, apples, strawberries, and cherries now that the season is on, peaches and apricots and what not. The basket in the attic is full of them and empties with ultra-speed. When the fruits are over, we complement them with some natural juices or teas and get back to coding.

Rare photo capture of a full fruit basket

We like to move it, move it

And we’re not talking about moving our fingers rapidly across the keyboard, although we’re pretty fast at this sport. We’re talking about getting up from our computers and shaking it off a bit.

For those who’ve never visited our office in Timisoara, it’s good to know that we have 3 floors which come with, yes, a lot of stairs and no elevator. Some days we dread the stairs, but other days they’re just what we need to stretch and reboot.

Climbing stairs might be a good way to keep active during office hours, but we need more than that. That’s why you might see us in competitions such as Timotion, Color Run, La Petrovaselo in Vie, Herneacova Run4Fun or TOR or well, you get the point. Okay, maybe you won’t see us on the podium, but you’ll see us nonetheless pushing for that extra mile of fun and “feel good”.

Timotion fun

We also love peddling, be it on weekdays or on the weekend, be it on a bike or on a river. For those of us who are a bit more hardcore, sessions like Workout and Travel are regularly on the healthy habits menu. And let’s not forget about climbing and no, we don’t mean it as a metaphor. We mean bouldering and rock climbing in the summer time. Did we mention basketball? Now, it might seem like we’re boasting, so we’ll stop here.

Climbing is a child’s play at One Move Timișoara

Go into the big “outside”

Talking about how we like to “move it, move it”, we also like to use our legs for stepping outside the office and working from right under the clear blue sky. This summer, we’ve picked Sura Urbana as our summer office and then we’ve moved to Ambasada (we just can’t stand still). Changing the scenery really gives us a boost of energy and productivity. And the terrace at Ambasada is just what we need to get in the coding and design zone.

Șura Urbană (left) and Ambasada (right)

When we want to venture even further, we gather our team (because we’re a team outside the office as well) and hike or bike our way through the weekend.

Relax our bodies, relax our minds

With all the moving around and squeezing brain energy for coding, we do need our rest. Yes, office hours included. We told you we’re all about the smart work, not the endless futile work. So, every Tuesday and Thursday we enjoy some well-deserved massage sessions at the office. Then, we stretch our knuckles and with our body back in shape we’re better prepared than ever to crack some code.

We admit, our focus might fluctuate during the day and we might find ourselves zoning out. Instead of denying this state, we embrace it. We head to our attic where we might just chill and have a chat, or we might get competitive and head for the game console. To each its own. Fact is that afterwards we feel we’ve gotten our dose of relaxation and fun and we’re ready to get back to work in full-productivity mode.

Sharing is caring

We believe that great energy comes from sharing it and that when you have it you must…share it. With this purpose in mind, we’ve created our weekly Demo Lunch which goes like this: for an hour, one of us presents something cool or useful or fun. Then, we eat lunch together and chit chat about this and that. From time to time, we have outside guests that share some wisdom with us. For example, we’ve had Tina Șerban from Melon Bites teaching us about nutrition and how to eat good to feel good. Also, we’ve had Ana Munteanu from Borcanul cu ulei talking about recycling and how to get our waste straight.

Of course, sharing also happens on a daily basis, without a schedule. Actually, when our attitude asks for it, we even share some well deserved tough love with each-other. Because nothing is more invigorating than a friend telling you the cool truth straight up, without any sugar.

So, what gives?

Now you know where our great energy comes from. We try to be smart about things and take the “healthy” trend as a fun way of spending our time at the office and out of office. We know it’s about body, mind, and spirit and, before we get too philosophical, we’re going to run up the stairs and have a (tea) break in our attic. Over and out!

If you want to keep up with our mischievous ways of doing fun things with great energy, subscribe to Tea Break (our blog right here on Medium), like our Facebook page or follow us on Instagram (but not in a creepy manner).