Walking Creativity
I am a keen walker. I don’t mean I walk a few times a year, or at the weekends. I don’t mean I take a 15 minute stroll everyday. I typically walk three and a half miles to the office everyday and three and a half miles back. I spend two hours of a typical day strolling through Central Park and the streets of Manhattan.
Some people ask me how I find the time for such perambulations. I tell them I couldn’t see myself not walking. It gives me the time to think that I need to generate new ideas. New ideas for working with clients. New ideas for courses and workshops. New ideas for NLP books. I will often arrive at the office with the outline of a workshop fully formed in my mind, having turned ideas over and over in my mind like a walking spin dryer.
Research has long suggested that walking has a positive effect on certain mental processes, including learning (memory formation). A recent study by Marily Oppezzo, and Daniel Schwartz, of Stamford demonstrates that walking is also beneficial for pure creativity. In fact walking was shown to increase creativity by 60%. In some measures of creativity, walking in the outdoors increased creativity by 100%.
So I plan to carry on with my walking, and generating up to 100% more new ideas than I would sitting in the office slaving over a computer keyboard. You’re welcome to join me!
Stanford study finds walking improves creativity
Cicero Many people claim they do their best thinking while walking. A new study finds that walking indeed boosts creative inspiration. Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple, was known for his walking meetings. Stanford study finds walking improves creativity
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