It’s no secret that you unleash your creative juices when you walk. Famous creatives like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have been known for being big walkers.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who walked with his notebook every day between 11 am and 1 pm, once said:
“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.” – Nietzsche.
Henry David Thoreau, a philosopher and an author who himself was a walker, wrote a famous lecture called Walking in which he said:
“You must walk like a camel, which is said to be the only beast which ruminates when walking.” – Henry David Thoreau.
In an interview with writer David Perell, Morgan Housel, author of the Psychology of Money, said “If I ever get some sort of writer’s block, or I’m just trying to think an article through, I go for walks. I go for two or three walks per day, and that’s where all of the writing happens, and I usually take notes when I walk.”
I’m a walker. I take a couple of strolls a day, mostly to exercise my dog and get some fresh air. When I walk, not only do I get energized, but I also unleash the big magic, as Elizabeth Gilbert calls it. My strolls prompt my creative mind to do its thing.
I’m not unique in this regard. According to a study by Standford University, a person’s creative output increases by an average of 60 percent when walking.
Most of my ideas, a plot for a novel, an idea for an essay, a YouTube video, or an Instagram reel, get conceived during my walks.
A big takeaway from my walks is to capture those ideas quickly, or they will simply vanish, disappear into the ether.
Creativity unleashing tools
So while I walk, I always have my iPhone and Airpods to make the most of my time. Here is what I use while I walk:
- Spotify: To listen to podcasts. I love interviews with creatives and content creators.
- Audible: To listen to audiobooks. I love consuming self-help books when I walk.
- YouTube: Every once in a while, I listen to guided walking meditation on YouTube, which clears my mind and reboots my system.
- Fitness +: To listen to guided walks.
Capturing tools
The tools mentioned above help unleash my creativity. I listen to a story of a prolific creator or a self-help book, and the ideas keep flowing.
Here is how I quickly capture the idea before they get sucked into a black hole:
Apple Notes: I organize my notes into folders. So if I have an idea for a blog post, I stop my walk, and I immediately jot it down in the blog posts folder.
Notion: Sometimes, I add ideas directly to the social media calendar I created on Notion.
Otter: I use it if I don’t feel like typing, so I keep walking and record my voice notes.
Do you use creativity unleashing tools when you walk? How do you capture your big magic?