It’s been a long day, and I needed a walk.
A long walk.
This usually ends up being a nightly six-kilometre jaunt around my neighbourhood; intentionally seeking new combinations of side streets, cut-throughs, and cul-de-sacs to keep it interesting and the steps flowing. Whatever it takes to get me moving.
But tonight, I needed something more.
I was still buzzing with pet project ideas from a private industy event the night before, so I called* my trusty brainstorming buddy, Guy Thompson, and started down the street [*outside of family and work, when was the last time I randomly rang someone… on the phone… without a heads-up… like the old days? How refreshing!]
I didn’t so much plan a route as picked a general direction and followed it. To my luck, he answered from the car en route to a show.
30 minutes passed. Fast. He was nearing his destination, and I was now deep into the backstreets of a neighbouring neighbourhood I had not previously explored. I wasn’t focused on my feet; I was slinging ideas, and he was volleying them back with constructive counterpoints.
40 minutes passed. 45 minutes. 48 minutes.
I don’t know if he had been parked and sitting outside the theatre, but we were on a roll and the only ‘impediment’ was his pre-planned outing. He challenged me, I challenged him, and we both found a natural close; a task, if you will. I told him exactly what I—as a target customer for his product concept—would pay him for if he could put a first-cut ‘prototype’ into my hands tomorrow. Likewise, I heard once again what he’d buy if I finally turned mine into a reality.
The phone call was over. The step count was still racking up. It was silent on the street below the stars, but my thoughts were spinning fast like a supercomputer maxing out its CPU. With Guy now rightfully preoccupied, I turned to ChatGPT’s voice mode as my sounding board for a new solution beginning to take shape — an answer to a product problem I’ve been mulling over for months.
My wife called, wondering when I was getting back. Another 35 minutes had passed in a flash. The Fitbit activity tracker recorded 8 kilometres as I rounded the corner towards home. A new record of sorts, and somehow my feet hadn’t protested.
I didn’t need a workout. I needed to work out a thought.
Turns out, the best way to get unstuck is to get moving.
And, Yes, I intentionally took one careful step at a time outside my house to end on a nice, round 9,600 steps haha.