12 Hour Walk

Last Friday was my birthday and like many an introvert before me, I thought about how I could give myself the gift of alone time to re-charge! (don’t worry - I also saw friends the night before, had cake with my kids after the walk, and went out to dinner with my spouse the following night!).?

I often recommend clients give themselves some uninterrupted time without an agenda to think and reflect. The 12-hour walk had been in the back of my mind since I heard about it on a LinkedIn Next Big Idea podcast interview from Caleb Bissinger with Colin O'Brady , and I figured I’d block off my day and really #practicewhatIpreach.?

I consider any time I try something new to be a “first pancake.” What do I mean by that? You know how when you make pancakes, the first one is usually a bit off? The batter is too thick, or the griddle isn’t hot enough. It takes a few pancakes to get into your groove.?

Trying new things is the same, and I’ve found that if I remind myself “this is my first pancake [12-hour walk or whatever I’m trying for the first time]” I’m kinder to myself and more likely to watch for the learnings instead of being frustrated or disappointed.??

Here are some of the things I learned for actually getting the walking part done:

• It took me an hour or even more to just get things out of my head. I’m used to this on my “no meeting Mondays” and I know that the sooner I acknowledge all the to-do’s coming up, the sooner I can get into the zone. I started taking voice-to-text notes on my phone.

--> Even though I put my phone on DND during on my walk, I ended up sending a few texts and replying to an email during that first hour. I made the decision that it was better to totally get them off my plate rather than have them bugging me all day. (note: Colin recommends putting your phone on airplane mode. For safety reasons, I used DND)

• The most important thing I needed to do all day was to slow down. I've been accused of "walking with a lot of intention." I usually need to be somewhere and I walk like it. I had to keep slowing myself down. I had "nowhere to go and all day to get there." (one of my favorite feelings and sayings)
• I was glad to be walking in an urban environment - with water bottle refill stations and food and bathrooms easily accessible. Maybe another time I’ll do a long hike, but for the first pancake, this was just what I needed.?I brought a water bottle, some homemade power-cookies, a notebook, a cell phone charger, a credit card, and sunblock. I picked up food when I got hungry.
• The real heroes of the day were the callous pads and electrolyte packs :)

As for the deep reflections, they did indeed come:

• I contemplated my mortality and legacy
• I turned some consistent personal and professional problems over-and-over-and-over in my head and got some new insights. Had potential breakthroughs on at least 2 deep, persistent problems that I'm testing out already.
• I have pages, and pages (and pages) of voice-to-text messages for myself. Like, Atlantic-article-length pages.?I've spent some time going over them and synthesizing the big takeaways (#alwaysaconsultant)

Overall - I can see the value?of the walk. I enjoy being by myself, I'm incredibly grateful to have a body that enabled me to do this (Colin stresses that the distance doesn't matter, it's the exercise of unplugging from everyone else's priorities and really connecting with yourself). I finished the walk when the remnants of Hurricane Ian arrived in the afternoon and spent the last 2 hours solo in my house.

I can see doing it again sometime. AND I think consistency beats intensity. Instead of expecting myself to do something so big, I'm going to build 2 hour chunks into my calendar on a monthly basis.

Funny - that's exactly what I recommend to my clients...

#workreimagined #practicewhatIpreach #12hourwalk