Why get out of the Office to Walk and Talk?

How walking literally powers up the brain 

Have you every found yourself feeling stuck with a problem, blocked by confusion or simply sat staring at a blank piece of paper devoid of ideas?

What do you do? Do you? Give yourself a hard time? Sit at your desk for longer trying to come up with a solution? Move yourself into a meeting room? Or put off whatever it is for another day?

What about when you feel too tired to come up with ideas or take the action you have planned to take? What happens then? 

Procrastination can run riot in many of our lives. You want to get something done but you just don’t. You want to make changes, but something stops you. The things you intend to do remain on the to do list for weeks gathering dust. You just can’t get started. You want to but you just can’t. 

Know the feeling?

I wonder if you have ever thought about going for a walk? Yes, a walk. 

Research has found that walking with someone else helps generate ideas and solve problems leading to deeper thoughts and more purposeful action. The mood boosting benefits of exercise are also useful in helping us to think our way through challenges in a positive way. 

Is it true that walking increases creative thought?

A series of four research experiments sought to answer this question in a project carried out by Stanford University.  Researchers measured the creative thinking/ideas generation of people sitting verses walking. The first three studies found 81%, 88%, and 100% of participants were more creative walking than sitting. A fourth study tested the effect of walking outdoors and found 100% of those who walked outdoors were more creative than those sitting indoors.

This is a summary of the findings:

• Walking enhances creative thinking/ideas generation when compared to sitting.
• Walking increased the talkativeness of participants, which was linked to their creativity.
• Walking outside produced the most novel and highest quality insights.
• The increased mental effect occurred not only during the walk itself, but also shortly after when participants sat down again to work.

Dr. John Ratey, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains what walking does for our brains

"When we're walking, we stimulate the brain in many, many ways, and this then leads to our brain being able to pick up information. The latest article coming out of Stanford showing that, if we walk for even 10 minutes, you will be more creative during the walk, you'll have more creative thoughts, and then sitting afterwards, after a 10-minute walk. And basically, I think that what has happened is we've turned the part of the brain on that focuses, but we're doing it in a minus kind of way. We're doing it easily. We're not stressing to stay on something, but we're able to capture ephemeral thoughts that might come up and hold onto them, rather than them drifting away."

"We're not only adding brain cells, but we're making the brain cells that we have that much better. Exercise is a prime mover of the brain, helping it to deal with emotional ups and downs as well as anxiety, tension, stress, and help the brain function better. The more we exercise, the better our brain gets, the more focused we can be, and the smarter we are. All those are facts, not just idle speculation."

Walking gives you brain power

So, it seems that walking can make us smarter which can automatically help us to come up with exactly what we need to solve a problem, structure up a project, or plan a strategy. Why then do we sit endlessly at our desks, in front of our PC’s waiting for the ideas to flow?

Getting outside for a walk can very simply help to shed light on a problem and literally provide an opportunity to see it from a different angle. It can also boost the endorphins that help us feel good enough to take positive action.

 When did you last take a walk? Not just a stroll to get a sandwich or for a drink at the pub, but a walk that got you energised, stimulated your senses and gave you a chance to de stress? A walk that clear your minds and open the doorway to creative input?

Walking gave me my brain power back

Once I realized the power that walking gave my brain I couldn’t stop. I had started to feel the impact of overload, too many thoughts getting in the way of my creativity. I found myself starting to forget things too. (an age thing maybe) However working as a business coach I needed to listen actively, process a lot of information, summarise clearly and guide action.  At times it could be quite intense. I had got to a point where I just felt brain tired.

Outside of my coaching sessions with clients I expected my brain to be engaged in several different tasks, creative writing, business development, planning projects, doing social media, networking and more. And there was all the thinking I did in between. My poor brain, no wonder it felt exhausted. 

A new lease of life through walking

I always enjoyed walking in my leisure time, and I decided that I was going to do it more, much more.  I was going to introduce it into my working life in a big way. I started doing walking business development, having walking meetings, walking project planning with partners, began introducing clients to walking coaching and have recently set up www.naturalnetwalking.co.uk

I found walking has helped ignite a new passion for my work. My creative brain given new lease of life. My intuition reawakened. I could also see the impact it was having on all those I walk alongside.

Is it time to start walking?

When you feel like your mind is tired and it needs a break, why not just get up from your desk and take a 20-minute walk. It may be all you need to re-boot yourself.

You may consider building a regular walk into your weekly routine monitoring the benefits you experience. 

If you are like me and want to consider ways in which you can walk and do business at the same time you could try walk and talk meetings or even a regular team walk

A good walk can do really wonders for your mental well-being and that of your team. It can provide the magic ingredient, you need to move forward.

Take the next step

If you want to talk to me about walk, talk and plan coaching or arranging a team walk contact me on jackie@walkingbusinesscoach.com 

Or join one of our Net-walks www.naturalnetwalking.co.uk