☀️ walking: the secret power habit that helps all your other habits

Minute 1: "They are 100% wrong. I am 100% right. This story has a villain, and it isn't me."

Minute 52: "I think I owe them an apology. I'm going to go ahead and send a text."

That's what happened on one of my walks this month. Let me back up.

It's Walktober in the Habit Lab, which means a challenge of going for 10,000 steps a day. (Or 5k or 7k) We did the same challenge last year, and I fell off early. I went in with a perfectionist mindset. Pretty soon I was saying, "This feels impossible."

For me, 10K steps doesn't happen on its own. My work happens on a laptop, and my laptop needs an outlet. I've sadly walked into a beautiful coffee shop, seen that there was no outlet near the tables, and walked right back out. Moments like that grieve me that I'm living my one precious life tethered to a screen, when what I really want is to get out, explore, and see beautiful things.

Enter: the walking challenge.

I figured out that if I plan in a one-hour walk, I'll end the day with over 10K steps. I won't get all of them on the walk, but the walk plus a normal day gets me there.

And then I noticed something kind of sad-hilarious. The idea of a one-hour walk felt too luxurious. Like I'd need to ask permission. Like a grown woman taking one hour for herself, without apologizing or feeling guilty the whole time, was a wild act of rebellion.

Of course I know that's ridiculous. It's an hour. It's a walk. Of course you're allowed.

So I tried to let myself have it guilt-free. And I also stopped aiming for a perfect 31 days out of 31 days. I decided to just see how many days I could get. If that's 20, that's a lot of days. If it's 10, that's still a lot of days. It's 10 more than I would get otherwise.

I walked every way I could think of this month. Long walks, short walks, two walks in a day, a walk after dinner. Trails and parks, and downtown past the old storefronts I love. (If you missed my history walk, it's here.) Some days I watched the clock or the pedometer and some days I didn't. And often I'd plan a quick walk that would double or triple in length.

Here's what I noticed on the hour-long walks. I planned on only a physical benefit, but would end up unlocking some type of mental block by surprise. At the beginning of the hour, my brain would get stuck on something: a frustration, or a problem with no clear answer. Then, somewhere later in the walk, it would shift. I'd figure out a next step. I'd get some clarity. (That's how the apology happened btw. I started that walk completely sure the other person was the one in the wrong.)

Sometimes it was 50 minutes of going in mental circles and then 10 minutes where it all came together. I wasn't trying to problem-solve or be productive. I was simply trying to wander and I kept solving problems anyway.

I'm not sure I would have gotten to those answers if I hadn't given myself that time with no agenda. The wandering part seemed pointless until suddenly it wasn't.

The science-y part

What walking does for you

It's good for your mood. People who walk 7,000 or more steps a day have a lower risk of depression than people who walk less. (Read more)
It helps your body after a meal. Even a two- to five-minute walk after eating can help with blood sugar. (Read more)
It helps you think creatively. People came up with about 60 percent more creative ideas while walking than while sitting. (Read more)
It's a good place for a hard talk. When you walk side by side with someone, you naturally fall into step with each other. (Read more)

The Plateau of Latent Potential

James Clear writes about this in Atomic Habits. When you start a habit, the results lag behind the effort, so it feels like nothing is happening. But the effort isn't lost. It builds up until you finally see a change. The mental wandering part of my long walks is a small version of this. So is the first week of a new habit. (More on that awkward phase here.)

This week's habit hack: Grab your shoes

There's no wrong way to do this. You don't have to time it or count steps. Just grab your shoes and go. If you'd like a little inspiration, here are a menu of some ways I walked this month:

The luxury walk. (1x60 min)
Take a full hour and lean all the way into it. Drive somewhere you love. A trail, a park, a pretty downtown. This isn't something you have to save for a rare occasion. It's just a reminder that you're allowed to enjoy it.

The bookend walks. (2 x 30min)
One 30 min walk to start your day and one to end it. The first can be for thinking about your day. The second can help you wind down and switch into home mode. Or give them no job at all.

The exercise snack. (3 x 20min)
A shorter 20 min walk after a meal. Good for your body, and a quick break for your brain. (The term is thought to have first been used in 2007 by Dr. Howard Hartley, a Harvard cardiologist. I like it because "snack" sounds so much more doable than "workout." )

The wander.
No plan, no route, no timer. See where you end up.

And then hit reply and tell me your own walking hacks. I want to hear them.

Mindset script

"I don't have to solve anything on this walk. I'm allowed to just wander. If an answer shows up, great. If not, I still got to go for a walk."

Bonus journal prompt

When was the last time you solved something while you weren't trying to?

One more thing: the joyful magnetism of consistency

The irony: I was stuck on what to write about this week. Nothing was coming. So I went on a walk, came home, and wrote this email in about 10 minutes. 😆

As for my Walktober results, walks have gotten easier, my legs feel stronger. And the walking made my other habits easier too. I started craving protein, water, and whole foods. It felt like every walk reminded me who I want to be: someone who loves and takes care of her body.

I also tried to take a picture every time I went for a walk. I forgot a lot, but here are the ones I remembered.

You might notice I wasn't always alone. Once I became the walker in the family, I started getting tag-alongs. When you're consistent, people notice, and sometimes they want to join you. That works so much better than telling your family they all need to start walking. (I don't recommend that.)

Just start walking. Mind your business. And every now and then, enjoy the company that shows up.

xoxo, Katie Day, your habit hype girl (write back soon)

Walktober, the walks I remembered to photograph. Tag-alongs included.

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