Beware the Walking Tread

This gorgeous vista is a 5 minute walk from my front door. 

I’m really lucky to live so close to one of the most beautiful botanical gardens I’ve ever seen. 

And today’s walk got me thinking about the internet shopping bonanza last week, where I couldn’t stop seeing recommendations and celebratory purchases of under desk walking treadmills. 

I was struck by people touting the ability to do all their work, including painting their nails, while walking. Multitasking their way straight to max productivity!

So today, I offer a broader stance than fits on a mini tread. 

As I went on a walk today through the most beautiful gardens, abundant from summer sun and copious amounts of late June rain, I also multitasked. But not towards max productivity. 

I thought about the people I love. 

I stopped and smelled the literal roses planted in the memorial rose garden. 

I took a picture of a busy bee - who literally needs to stay productive for the survival of all of us. 

I said “good morning” and exchanged smiles with a dozen strangers and I think we all felt better because of it. 

I even stopped for a minute on a bench to jot down these thoughts. 

But mostly, I enjoyed not looking at the four walls of my office, my computer screen, or the Zoom interface. I enjoyed getting out of my head on a project that has been harder to crack than I expected. I enjoyed spontaneous inspiration. 

I enjoyed feeling like a small part of this world when I looked up at the big blue sky, and giant, shady trees, and crystal clear water.  

I matter in this world, taking in this beauty, greeting strangers with a smile and sharing all of this with you. But ultimately, I’m small by comparison, and remembering that somehow seems to make the hard stuff feel a little smaller, too. 

And very little of that POV is available to me in the four walls of my office, on my computer screen, in a Zoom window. 

So here’s my challenge. 

I hope that the bonanza on walking treads is a supplement to, not a replacement for, getting outside of a quick (or long) summer stroll. 

Perfectly manicured public gardens are not a prerequisite for a stroll, but clarifying the purpose of a walking tread is.  

Like everything you’ll hear me talk about, it’s about choice and making that choice on purpose. 

Is the walking tread a celebrated supplement to increase movement you’re already enjoying? 

Is it helping you regulate your emotions while you work? 

Is it an energy boost that keeps you cranking, feeling like you’re a peppier version of yourself throughout the day, when you need to be on your computer? 

Or is it because you’re in wall-to-wall meetings and have no extra moments to yourself in a jam-packed day, and this is the only way you can move? 

Do you work in a corporate culture that requires immediate Zoom/email/Slack responses or else? 

Do you feel compelled to be instantly available for everyone, so they can thrive and get their work done, but at the expense of yourself? 

Whether this stems from your own expectation as a good employee or good boss, or it’s coming from your company culture, we need to shift.

We need to shift our culture and expectations that good work stems from space, creativity and choice, not feeling super-glued to productivity tools.  

Emergencies should be saved for real emergencies; urgency can be conveyed via normal-course-of-business timing; and break time should be the norm, not the exception.

Every time I talk about building a Burnout Preparedness Toolkit and overcoming burnout, moving your body in a meaningful way is always top of my list. And from my POV, “meaningful” is the important word. Studies show the stress reducing effects we feel from 20-30 minutes outside.  

I recently passed a friend in my neighborhood who was walking to the end of the street and back to her house. She had 10 minutes before her next Zoom call and knew she needed to step away from her desk. I celebrated her achievement!

We need to shift our culture from wall-to-wall meetings and celebrate the 10-minute walk to the end of the street and back.

Here’s one way to shift: Purposely plan to end a meeting 10 minutes early 

• Make an agenda that’s 10 minutes shorter and stick to it. 

• Assign a timekeeper for time checks. 

• Don’t adjust the calendar invite, that way people get this “gift” of time to use as they choose, since their calendar appears already booked. 

• Encourage people to take the 10 minutes for an outside stroll or at least a breath of fresh air. 

• Model taking that break for your team - it’s a win-win-win!

The walking tread - or any tool or piece of tech designed to push, push, push productivity -  is not the answer. Instead it perpetuates the productivity myth that you can fit more in by multitasking, all day, everyday. 

So if you didn’t snag a lightning deal on a walking tread this time, don’t be discouraged. Plug a daily stroll outside into your calendar as a new non-negotiable. Give it a new color-code so it pops in your calendar as a celebrated event, not something that just fades into the gray.  

And high fives to you if you snagged a deal and your brand new walking tread arrived same-day delivery, fully assembled. Remember this new tool can be a supplement too, not a replacement for a quick (or long) walk around the block. 

Last plug - even if the wall-to-wall meeting scenario doesn’t resonate for you, I still encourage you to run an audit of your meeting schedule. Chances are there’s one unnecessary meeting on your calendar that could be deleted, delegated or turned into an email. 

Happy walking!

The real heroes of productivity.