Walk and Think

Some of the best ideas come while moving. Walking seems to unlock thinking. Maybe it’s the rhythm, distance from the screen, or simply oxygenating the brain.

Whatever the reason, it works. When stuck on a problem, walk. No phone, podcast, or music. Just walk and think. It doesn’t have to be long, and you’ll be in good company. Darwin paced his daily “thinking path.” Beethoven wandered Vienna. Steve Jobs led walking meetings barefoot.

Why does it work? When you’re at your desk staring at the problem, you’re locked in one mental mode. Walking shifts you into a different state, less focused, more diffuse, and that’s where insight happens.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone for a walk when stuck on a writing project and returned with the solution. Keep a notebook with you. Insights arrive when they’re ready, not when you return to your desk. Capture them immediately. My father was a great walker. He would often say, ‘fancy a walk?’ and we’d explore our local countryside in Wiltshire or when on our first visit to New York City.

The Pencil

The sharpener bites, and you feel the first catch of the blade through your fingertips before you hear it. Then the turn: steady, unhurried, and the long shaving curls away in a single ribbon, pale wood on one edge and a thin painted skin on the other, until it drops. And there it is: the point. Perfect, faceted, faintly warm, smelling of cedar.

You have just made something.

The pleasure is the friction. The pencil demanded a small effort and repaid it at once, in the hand and in the nose, and gave you a clean point that you recognise was earned.

An idea: buy one good wooden pencil and one metal sharpener that fits the palm.