In today’s talk, Nilofer Merchant gives a startling statistic: we’re sitting, on average, for 9.3 hours per day—far more than the 7.7 hours we spend sleeping. “Sitting is so incredibly prevalent, we don’t even question how much we’re doing it,” Merchant says.
Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk
“In that way, sitting has become the smoking of our generation.”
But there are consequences. Physical inactivity, Merchant says, leads to upticks in our risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, and type II diabetes.
Merchant’s own habits changed when a colleague couldn’t fit a meeting into her schedule and asked if Merchant could come along on a dog walk instead. Now, she says, “I’ve taken that idea and made it my own.” Instead of meeting in conference rooms, she asks people to go on walking meetings—20 to 30 miles’ worth a week. “It’s changed my life,” she says.
Merchant is carrying on a long tradition of frequent, even ritualistic, walking. Here are some other fans of the amble. Some are walk-and-talkers; others or simply stroll for its own sake.
- Aristotle allegedly instructed students while strolling about—which fits with his students’ being called “Peripatetics.”
. - In August 1910, Sigmund Freud took a four-hour walk with the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, who had requested an “urgent consultation” via telegraph, according to the BBC. Mahler’s marriage was disintegrating, and he was about to have a breakdown—hence the emergency walk-and-talk with the founder of psychoanalysis. In fact, Freud conducted a number of walking analyses, according to Freud: A Life for Our Time. Another significant example: Freud conducted his first training analysis on Max Eitingon in 1907 through a series of evening walks. Eitingon went to become president of the International Psychoanalytic Association.
. - Steve Jobs made a habit of the walking meeting, especially for first encounters, according to CNNMoney, which quotes from Jobs’ biography: “taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation.”
. - Harry S. Truman was a routine-oriented man, and walking was a fundamental part of that routine. According to the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, Truman woke up at five in the morning for a “vigorous” walk of a mile or two, “wearing a business suit and tie!” (This in addition to his frequent midday swimming session in the White House pool, “with his eyeglasses on.”)
. - Charles Dickens “was from childhood an avid, even compulsive, walker,” Sports Illustrated wrote in 1988. (Apparently, the mid-1800s was “the golden age of professional foot racing, or ‘pedestrianism.’” Who knew?) Dickens frequently walked around 20 miles a day—one night in 1857, he logged 30 miles—and often did so at night. Walking was a means of both observing the cities around him and de-stressing. “Dickens found composition to be hard, painful work,” SI writes. “The hours he spent at his desk agitated him tremendously, and walking served as a kind of safety valve.”
Note: After we ran this post, American Express’ Tumblr — a Tumblr designed to motivate and inspire — created the incredible visualization below. Enjoy.
Via American Express’ Tumblr, a Tumblr designed to motivate and inspire.
Comments (82)
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Santokh Saggu commented on Jun 9 2013
Walking is a very fantastic activity . When you walk with someone it not only helps building good relationship, but also the brain becomes active , and many amazing ideas start flowing inside the brain as if a nuclear chain reaction has occurred. Every winter season me and my younger brother we both of us go to our office which is 8 kms from our home, by walking.And in the evening again we come home by walking. During walking we both of us have discussed many things from spirituality to science.
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Seth Lesky commented on May 13 2013
As someone who hates sitting (software developer) I can totally relate. In fact when I was faced with studying for the GRE, I vowed to sit as little as possible. This led to the creation of RunGRE (http://rungre.com). The whole idea was to study GRE vocabulary while moving (running in my case), and it’s been surprisingly effective. There is lots of evidence to support enhanced memory retention from cardiovascular exercise.
Audio flashcards, treadmill desks and now walking meetings will be an excellent addition to my personal war on sitting :)
Has anyone else experimented with studying while walking/running/moving?
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Greg Hooper commented on May 3 2013
There’s nothing “allegedly” about Aristotle and the Peripatetic School: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school
Eric Nyrop commented on May 2 2013
I held my construction meetings with no chairs and lot of coffee available and no pee breaks, the meetings were short & productive.
Chris Sawyer commented on Apr 30 2013
I am all for walking meetings as long as you have the venue and atmosphere for it. It also has to be suitable for the people. You dont want to have a walking meeting with someone who gets out of breath.
http://www.coolcityentertainment.com
Sandra Higgison commented on Apr 30 2013
A couple of years ago I interviewed someone for a report I was researching on knowledge management while walking round beautiful Bern in Switzerland. I was nervous about the logistics – capturing the conversation, keeping the thread going, getting distracted, remembering questions to ask – but it turned into one of the best interviews I think I’ve done.
Walking had an incredibly positive impact on our conversation’s content and pace, and also how I listened and what I took away.
I blogged about it here if you’d like to read more. http://shiggison.tumblr.com/post/5734517357/the-whole-world-is-being-reorganised-in-my-head
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Kris McCracken commented on Apr 29 2013
I’ve been increasingly having these. I’m a compulsive walker myself, and use a standing desk at work, so I find seated meetings a challenge. It’s not suitable for every meeting, but if you know that the topic requires an open discussion with minimal notes, I find them really good. The advent of mobile devices make even those meetings that require looking at documents or taking a few key points down quite easy.
I have noted that people who don’t walk a lot are often initially sceptical, but usually find themselves invigorated by the end of the meeting. It is especially useful at that slump point of around the 1:30- 2:30 pm mark.
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alexswallow commented on Apr 29 2013
Reblogged this on one swallow makes a summer and commented:
Am curious about walking meetings! One way to make sure you aren’t stuck behind a desk I suppose…