Running fast to slow down: the importance of finding your 'autopilot setting' in our new normal

Our “new normal” is unavoidable, and not without challenges. For the past several months in the Kunigonis household, we’ve been bouncing between teleconferences, emails, home-schooling, video conferences, checking in on parents/relatives in two countries and providing countless home-cooked meals. All this requires frequent sanity breaks.

But the key word in my first paragraph is the first one – “our” – because I know my family and I are not alone. Many of my colleagues are facing a blizzard of daily decisions ranging from the mundane to the urgent. And sometimes the sheer volume of those decisions – combined with the potential for serious consequences – can become overwhelming.

In this new environment it’s easy to forget the dictum of President and General Dwight D. Eisenhower: “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” Today, as I’ve done for many years, one thing that has maintained normalcy and continues to grant me solace is my running routine.

I see running as a tonic of sorts, and its importance has only increased in my career. Up until a few months ago, I was on the road an average of 100+ days per year – much of which sent me jet-setting around the globe. Combine travel with heavy work responsibilities and efforts to be a good spouse and parent, and it’s easy to understand how that can wear on a person. But running always helps me get away, take a break, and let my mind go on “autopilot,” no matter where I am. Running helps me mentally attack the “urgent” decisions on deck at work and home, and ultimately improves how I physically address them.

As many of us continue to spend most of our time at home, our ability to “get away” – be it for walks, runs, bicycling, or even just a drive around town – has never been more challenging. It’s also never been more important.

I believe that physical exercise is both good for your heath and your brain. I know for me and many others, physical exercise like running helps my creative thinking, and there’s scientific evidence to back up my experience. According to neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki (Healthy Brain, Happy Life), exercises like running stimulate Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF), which help grow new brain cells in the hippocampus. BDNF not only helps aid in long-term memory but also creative thinking. Who knew?

Some people may find running boring, and I can see why. But for me, running is the type of boring that fuels reflective thinking. Science backs this up too, with Fast Company’s Vivian Giang writing that “…recent research finds that being bored promotes creative association and pushes one to find deeper meaning and satisfaction.”

It might seem paradoxical, but running helps me slow down. My running breaks help me rest my mind, reflect, prioritize and see things from new vantage points. When that happens, I, like many others, drum up some of my best and most creative ideas.

As each of us continues to navigate this global pandemic and begin to return to our respective offices in the spirit of a “new normal,” I encourage you to find your way of taking a break, getting some exercise, and resting your brain. Find a way to step back and sort through the important and the urgent because, as Eisenhower noted, they are often not one in the same.

And today more than ever it is critical we know the difference between the two.