Work is following you, wherever you go
When the UK went into lockdown, you were allowed up to 1 hour a day of solo exercise outside. That wasn’t much change for me as I love a 40 minute lunchtime walk at my local mere.
A walk alone should be a time to look up at the sky, see the beauty of nature, and to relax the mind. It makes me feel fresh and motivated for the afternoon, working at my home desk.
On one of my strolls last month I had a revelation. I had been reading The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer. An inspiring book on mindfulness and being present. One of the key messages in the book was to allow yourself to remain open, and don’t close yourself. Which roughly transcribes as, don't let your mind wander, and start judging things and people. Don’t start thinking about the past or the future.
We need to allow ourselves to step back from these conversations in our minds, then close them. This allows us to be open. ie Stop the mind, so the heart naturally opens so you can enjoy and be in the moment.
Your head won't shut up
I started observing my chattering mind on my daily walk, and surprisingly noticed that it rarely shut up. A continual commentary and dialogue. "Oh, those people aren't socially distanced", "That’s a nice tree", "How long have I been walking for?", "It’s cold in the shade".
But the biggest thing my mind was doing was problem solving. This was usually something to do with a work project. It was asking questions such as. "What further information do I need?", "What part shall I do next", "What questions do I need to ask people?".
It's always thinking ahead
Most of the walks were spent with my head in work mode. My thoughts, endlessly playing with and trying to find the answers to many questions. I wasn’t on a break from my work, I was still in it. Ok I was getting some physical exercise, but my head wasn’t getting a rest. It wasn’t switching it’s focus to something different. I was continually thinking about the future. Whether that was in 1 hour or 10 years.
I made a new promise to myself. No problem solving on my walks. If an answer did appear whilst walking, I would type it into Onenote on my phone, and look at it when back at home. And work problem solving was to be only done at my desk, as a focussed exercise.
A solution
This exercise would use the template of the Natural Planning Model. Designed by David Allen, of Getting Things Done (GTD) fame. This is a great simple "back of the envelope" planning and problem solving exercise. For many problems it only takes about 5-10 minutes to do. Here's my own simple template version of it:
Why do I want this thing to happen?
What would a successful outcome look like?
Brainstorm all the things that I might need to consider
Pick the priorities and sequence them if necessary
Highlight the very next action required to move things forward.
It's usually the brainstorming that I'm undertaking on my walk. My head is literally in a storm, with random ideas jumping about. But when you sit with a piece of paper or your keyboard, you can just empty your head in one short structured session. Plus if it needs to be adapted, added to, or when looking for the next step of the plan, you have something written or typed. It's not all being held in your head.
Now on my daily walk, I have no need to start musing over a work project. I can give it my full attention at the right place and time. Being present on my stroll and being present in my work.