Why Walking is One of the Best Routines for Writers
There are many famous writers who do some walks to get ideas and get their minds flowing, but why walk?
Walking is a great routine for writers to have.
You don’t have to take a 60-minute walk to have an effect on your writing, because 10 minutes is actually enough. It could generate ideas and help your mind get into the flow state easily. This is why I incorporate walking into my writing routine.
I don’t walk in a park for 15 minutes after writing, then go back to my home and start to write again.
I don’t actually spend my time walking like that; I just walk in my house from the kitchen to my room or to my sister’s room and talk a little bit. It was just a little bit of social activity and a break from writing.
It actually improves my mood to write, and it’s a great break for me to become more focused after that.
Walking as break time
Walking is actually an enjoyable activity to spend time with.
Walking for one minute could actually help you break from writing mode into rest mode. We need to rest in every one of our writing sessions. You can spend some rest time for about 5–30 minutes per writing session, but I usually spend 5 minutes if I only write for 30 minutes and 10–15 minutes if I write for about 90 minutes.
This helps me reset my focus and brain to relax and get back to work again in a better mood.
Pomodoro Technique
There’s a technique called the Pomodoro technique, where you spend some time working and a little bit of time resting.
It could be 25/5 minutes, 25 minutes of working and 5 minutes of resting, or 50/10 minutes. It actually varies for each person, but just remember to work and rest for each session. When I write without a timer, it feels like my writing session isn’t quite engaging.
So, I decided to work with a timer, even if it was just for a little bit.
Writing with a timer helps me to become more focused and respect the time that I have, rather than just knowing that I have a lot of time to write.
Struggle of writing
The struggle that we have with writing is mostly because of procrastination, writer’s block, overthinking, and perfection.
Those are the enemies in writing, but it actually could be fixed with one thing, which is walking. According to my story above, you don’t have to force yourself to take a 15-minute walk in a park if you don’t want to. You can just start walking from your kitchen to your room or grab some water to drink a little bit.
It actually depends on how comfortable you are with the habit.
Why walking?
1. Walking reduces stress.
I mean, writers are always going to face stress in their writing routine, right?
Thinking about ideas, words, and the “perfect” format is easy to make us stressed sometimes. This is not stress like depression, but high-pressure thinking that forces you to generate those ideas, words, and edits. Walking might help you get it vented out and break you from the hectic thinking in writing.
Just like I said, you don’t have to spend a lot of time walking, but 10 minutes of walking could have big positive effects on writing.
2. It improves mental clarity.
Mental clarity is the state of having a clear, focused, and calm mind, enabling effective thinking, decision-making, and concentration.
It’s basically entering the flow state. You can get it from walking because walking increases the blood flow to the brain, which helps you get into the flow state easily.
If you are wondering what flow state is, flow state is a mental condition in which a person is fully immersed and engaged in an activity, experiencing heightened focus, productivity, and enjoyment.
This means you are focused and enjoying yourself while you write with high focus.
3. Boost creativity.
Who needs creativity?
Ofcourse, writers. When writers are full of creativity, the words and ideas make the writing amazing. I sometimes get some creativity in my writing, but sometimes not.
Why is that?
It’s because I don’t really engage or prepare myself to build creativity and focus. This is why walking is the solution, because it boosts my creativity easily, and I can go back to my writing in a better mood. I sometimes spend time writing and then spending time walking just a little bit to get some ideas.
I think easily when I walk or even while talking to someone.
“All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking.”
–Friedrich Nietzsche
Scrolling on social media is the worst way to spend your break time.
You can see from my stories that I talk about spending time with other people, taking a little bit of a walk, drinking some water, getting up from your bed or your seat, and many more. Those are great ways to spend your break time, and I didn’t mention any about phones, social media, YouTube, or many other things.
It’s because social media and Youtube lead you to dopamine surge, and your eyes aren’t resting after writing.
So, avoid using your phone during your break time and just spend a little bit on social activity or walking.
Once again, you don’t have to spend 30 minutes walking if you can’t. You can just spend 10 minutes or even 5 minutes walking. This not only helps you to generate ideas and get into a flow state easily in writing, but it also builds a good habit for you to have a healthy life.
This could replace scrolling through social media with just spending your lovely break time walking.
Start doing some walks as part of your identity as a writer, and you might boost your writing to the next level.
“When I’m in turmoil, when I can’t think, when I’m exhausted and afraid and feeling very, very alone, I go for walks. It’s just one of those things I do. I walk, and I walk, and sooner or later something comes to me, something to make me feel less like jumping off a building.”
― Jim Butcher, Storm Front