How to turbocharge your day in eight minutes
This was the scene on a Wednesday morning two weeks ago. It was 11:45am, and the elevated walkways by London Wall in the City of London were quiet. There was hardly anyone about.
As soon as I climbed the steps and headed west on these newly renovated walkways, I felt my head buzzing with ideas and clarity. Up above the traffic, walking between office buildings on the curving winding path, put me in a really good frame of mind. Up here I could slow down and get clarity on some issues I’d been wrestling with. I don’t believe I’d have had the same results inside an office building.
By the time I’d got back down to street level it felt I’d turbo-charged my Wednesday morning. And I’d only been up on the walkway for eight minutes!
I was initially surprised that hardly anyone was up on the walkway, considering it’s in the heart of the financial district. But actually I know it’s often hard to break out of the office, or change our routines. Coffee shops have become our default place outside the office to go for a meeting or catch up. The Starbucks and Prets that I walked past that morning had hardly any space to perch.
But if you can find a few minutes to shake up the way you do things - get walking outside. I wonder how much more productive that might be than than sixty or ninety minutes in a meeting room, or stuck at your desk racking your brain for clarity.
Finding another space that allows an opportunity to think, might be just what you need to turbo-charge your day. A walk along the river or sitting on a park bench are low-fi and simple ways to hopefully reap some benefits.
Have our lives become so jam-packed, a seamless segue from home-to-office - albeit via the coffee shop — that we’ve left no space to do the Big Thinking? We cram so much into getting stuff done, and being productive, that time to generate ideas for our company or to get perspective on a challenging issue isn’t given the respect it requires. Give it a go and get outside! You might be surprised by the results.
