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Walk and Talk

A couple of years ago, we made a rule that if there was difficult or stressful discussion that needed to be had and it was already after dinner, we would walk and talk, never stay in and stew. Over time we adapted the rule to if there is any such conversation that needs to be had and it can wait until after dinner, we will do that, walk and talk. 

A few different benefits results from this small change we instrumented into our lives. For one thing, the issue becomes depersonalized - it is just something that we needed to talk through, analyze and figure out a solution that makes sense. It puts distance between us and the topic at hand, stimulates good debate and the couple of hours it takes to reach a conclusion is spent getting a nice walk. By the time we come home, we have resolution and ready to wind-down. This is a process that works every time and it seems like the benefits spill over to other areas as well. It does not surprise me at all that walking stimulates creativity.

Perhaps it is a coincidence that so many great thinkers were obsessive walkers. There could be just as many brilliant thinkers who never walked. Did William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, or Toni Morrison walk every day? What about Frederick Douglass, Marie Curie, or Isaac Newton? Surely the astoundingly brilliant Stephen Hawking did not walk after ALS paralyzed him. So walking is not essential to thinking, but it certainly helps.

Much lesser mortals like us will not become one of those names just because we walk a lot too. But maybe it makes us a smidge smarter.


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