A walking pace I learned
A small adjustment to how I move on an afternoon walk that changed what happens in my head.
I take a walk most afternoons, somewhere between thirty and forty minutes. I used to walk fast. I now walk at a pace that lets me think the whole way through. The pace turned out to matter more than the distance.
What the pace is#
Slow enough that I am not breathing hard. Fast enough that I do not stop moving. Slow enough that I notice the buildings. Fast enough that the phone in my pocket does not feel obligatory.
If you handed me a metronome I could not name the rate. The feeling is about right where the inside of my head and the outside of my body are moving at the same speed.
What it changed#
The walk used to be exercise. It is now thinking. Two-thirds of the decisions I have made in the last six months were made during the afternoon walk, not at the desk. The desk is where I write the decision down. The walk is where I find it.
What I do not bring#
No headphones. No podcast. No call. The phone is in my pocket on do-not- disturb. I have tried walking with audio and the walk becomes a different thing — exercise, or company, but not thinking.
The thinking version of the walk requires the boredom that a podcast keeps away. The boredom is the productive part.