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On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

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Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#121

Post by mateuszf »

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

A workaround which could work for regular people not bothering you would be using headphones.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#122

Post by taneq »

baxtr wrote: post #23
nightsd01 wrote: post #7

I have found that I have my best (and worst) ideas by changing mental states. For example I’m usually sober so when I’m intoxicated I usually have garbage ideas, but every now and then I think of something truly incredible/useful that I would never have had insight into sober. The same applies to being sleep deprived, it leads me into a different mental headspace where I can think differently than normal (though I tr…

Recently I had to wake up at 3am and drive for a couple of hour. Something I never do. I had the strangest and most interesting insights! It was very similar to what you describe, a different mental state. However, unfortunately I forgot many of the insights since I was so endlessly tired! Should have taken notes while driving with just 3h of sleep…

I've seen some people using a dictaphone for this kind of thing. I'm sure these days you can get a phone app that would even auto-transcribe your 3AM ramblings. :)

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#123

Post by OskarS »

twobitshifter wrote: post #8

I don’t deny the link. I worked with a programmer/mathematician who would just start ambling about the office without any mission when deep in thought. I think that in his case the thinking actually drives the walking instead of vice versa. >Oppezzo designed an elegant experiment. A group of Stanford students were asked to list as many creative uses for common objects as they could. A Frisbee, for example, can be use…

> With everything in the news about reproducibility and doctored data, this seems too staggering to believe. Has this study been tried again?

Yep, totally! I'm a firm believer in the power of walking to increase thoughts, but whenever I read about studies like this a big red beeping alarm goes of in my brain that goes "replication crisis! replication crisis!"

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#124

Post by switch007 »

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

That was heartbreaking to read. I’m sorry. It really surprised me when I read Germany. Shame on those people and the politicians who allow police to harass you. Shame on them!

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#125

Post by toosimplee »

robertwt7 wrote: post #97

Coming from Asia, especially tropical countries, walking is not very common during lunch time as you can get sweaty and disgusting coming back to work. After living in AU I'm surprised by how many of my co-workers do walking as part of their lunch break. Me on the other hand just stay at my computer, code, when I'm stuck I stop and think.. Maybe I should start walking rather than being a lazy ass

Have you tried walking in the morning or evening?

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#126

Post by vaylian »

switch007 wrote: post #124
ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

That was heartbreaking to read. I’m sorry. It really surprised me when I read Germany. Shame on those people and the politicians who allow police to harass you. Shame on them!

I was also very surprised when I read that it was in Germany.

When it comes to police checks, it is important to know your rights: https://anwaltauskunft.de/magazin/gesellschaft/strafrecht-po... The police is not allowed to discriminate against you just because you look foreign. Always demand that they tell you why you were stopped and that they show their badge.

When it comes to racists, I personally would reply with irony and humor to make them look silly. But ignoring them can also be a viable strategy.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#127

Post by michaelgrafl »

ilovefood wrote: post #118

I love walking and there are many parks next to where I live. However I am never able to fully enjoy it or indulge in any longer thinking activities as most of the time I'll be interrupted by either elderly people asking me "to go back where I came from" or random ID checks by undercover police. This happened a lot (5x times) over the last year when I decide to go and walk in a park, once even during an online call w…

That sucks. This kind of behavior should be monitored and have consequences till it stops.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#128

Post by vivferrari »

I was recently reading a book called Why we Swim where the author traces how the ape got back into the water. I think she rightly points out that Swimming is the best place to think because there is no way to be distracted by your phone or anything else for that matter.

While I am also in a landlocked city with little access to pools but it would be interesting to get the point of view of swimmers.

Re: On the link between great thinking and obsessive walking

#129

Post by Tomte »

vivferrari wrote: post #128

I was recently reading a book called Why we Swim where the author traces how the ape got back into the water. I think she rightly points out that Swimming is the best place to think because there is no way to be distracted by your phone or anything else for that matter. While I am also in a landlocked city with little access to pools but it would be interesting to get the point of view of swimmers.

Some "serious" swimmers wear sports watches that collect and show all kinds of information: lap times, strokes per lane etc.

Plenty of opportunity to get distracted.

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