You Don’t Need More Productivity Hacks, You Just Need To Go On a Walk
But please don’t turn it into a performance metric.
Sometimes I think the most radical thing you can do in a productivity-obsessed world is take a walk.
Not to chitchat about the weather, grab a quick Subway sandwich because you didn’t have time to prepare lunch or to count steps as part of your productive day.
Just to step outside with no agenda.
I don’t know about you, but two-hour in-office brainstorming sessions never leave me feeling inspired and brimming with ideas. They leave me feeling depleted and frustrated.
But send me out on a 30-minute walk, and I’ll guarantee you I’ll come back with new ideas and insights.
Office culture doesn’t understand this. They think creativity is something that can be summoned, like flipping a switch. Turn it on when you need it, turn it off when you’re done. They expect you to turn on your switch while you’re sitting in stasis, under their fluorescent lights.
Here’s why going on a walk may be your best ‘’productivity hack’’.
But Isn’t That… Boring?
I love walks. They’re so simple, yet so effective. All I need is a pair of comfy shoes, and occasionally, a rain jacket (I live on the Dutch country side). Walks have become a daily non-negotiable for me. Not because I feel like I have to, but because I feel worse when I don’t. I’ve gotten some of my best ideas during a walk.
Some people think walks are boring. Maybe they don’t get that adrenaline rush from it, like they would from climbing or running. Maybe it’s not as fast as they’d like it to be.
But that’s exactly the point.
A walk is like an invitation from you to you to pause, breathe, and create space for new thoughts to enter. The magic of a walk isn’t in reaching a destination, but in the act of movement itself.
It’s no coincidence that you can’t write emotion without motion. Or that great thinkers like Nietzsche and Kierkegaard believed that their best ideas arrived while walking. They weren’t chasing productivity — they were allowing space for insight.
As long as humans have been walking this planet, walks helped them make sense of the world. The ancient Romans were onto something when they coined the term “solvitur ambulando,” meaning “it is solved by walking.” For them, walking wasn’t just an activity; it was a path to clarity, wisdom, and problem-solving. Seneca wrote about the simplicity and clarity that came with long walks, and Cicero even believed that walking unlocked ideas and solutions that wouldn’t emerge when confined to a desk.
“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
The Brain-Changing Magic Of A 20-Minute Walk
Neuroscientists have confirmed what the ancient Romans knew all along.
Walking rewires your brain.
Especially if you do it regularly and mindfully.
The reason you feel more insightful after a walk is because walking stimulates the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for decision-making, abstract thinking and creativity. When you’re walking, this part of your brain is active without being overloaded — which allows new connections to form, and insight to emerge more easily.
You’ve probably heard that you should take 10,000 steps a day. It’s become some sort of magic number in health campaigns. But that’s more marketing than science. It actually originated from a 1965 Japanese pedometer called the “manpo-kei”, which translates to “10,000 steps meter.” There wasn’t solid science behind it — it just sounded nice and motivating.
Sadly, this notion has turned walking into a competitive metric. Just how many apps and smartwatches are there to track your steps? Don’t get me wrong — I think it’s great to gain a sense of awareness about your activity levels. I track my walks, too. But in my humble opinion, the metric of a good walk isn’t how many steps you took. It’s how many insights you gained.
I can’t tell you how often I hear people say they need to go out again because they’re 1,000 steps short of their 10,000 goal. Your body already reaps the benefits when you get in 7,000 steps in per day.
I often think about this powerful brain scan showing the brain of students taking the same test after sitting quietly and after a 20 min walk. Just 20 minutes! The post-walk brain lit up with activity, like it had been switched back on. The scan illustrates that sometimes, the reset button you’re looking for is right outside your front door.
Source: Dan Go
Stop Counting Steps, Start Counting Novelty And Insights
Now that we’ve gotten the 10,000 steps out of the way, let’s focus on what makes walking fun.
I have to admit: my environment makes it pretty easy to build walks into my daily rhythm. I’m lucky to live just two minutes from the woods. It’s literally around the corner. I never consciously decided to take daily walks. The forest just kept pulling me in with its fresh air, chirping birds, and soothing streams.
These days, my walks feel more like playful quests than workouts. I spot birds, look for animal tracks, identify wild plants, observe cloud shapes — or go on a color walk, where I pick one color and try to notice it as often as I can. If I feel down, I might opt for a gratitude walk, where I just go out and try to list all the things I feel grateful for.
Image by author.
There are many ways to ‘’spice up’’ your walk. But you don’t have to. Some of my best insights came from raw walks where I just let my mind wander. Whatever theme I go for, there’s one thing I always leave at home: my headphones. It’s only in the silence that I can hear my thoughts (and the birds) and connect the dots.
“The moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
— Henry David Thoreau
Final Thoughts
We’ve normalized something completely unnatural: sitting still for most of our waking hours. But the human body was never meant to stay stuck in chairs under fluorescent lights for eight hours a day. It was made to move.
We may not identify as hunter-gatherers anymore, but the modern hunt for ideas becomes much easier when we take our thoughts outside.
If there’s anything I’d like you to take away from my article, it’s this:
When you’re losing focus, it’s better to go for a walk to close the many tabs in your mind than to open yet another one tab on your laptop.
So the next time you’re stuck, overwhelmed, or uninspired, don’t force your brain to produce answers. Step outside. Leave your headphones, your deadlines, and your step goals at the door. Walk not to get somewhere, but to return to yourself.