Posted on Wed, Apr 25, 2012
…just take a walk.
"Americans now walk the least of any industrialized nation in the world," says writer Tom Vanderbilt. In a series of stories for Slate about "The Crisis in American Walking," Vanderbilt writes about pedestrian life in America, from "sidewalk science" to possible ways to make the U.S. less car-centric.
What started in America as a push for convenience has become a difficult problem, as many parts of the country are now designed specifically for cars, not pedestrians. Basically Americans have engineered walking out of our everyday life. And while Americans have cut down on walking, they've been putting on some pounds. A recent study found that about 35 percent of adult Americans are obese,
Equally important to me, as the positive health impact, is how walking stimulates thinking and ideas. Some of my best Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions and talent attraction strategies come to me during exercise.
There are 2 schools of thought around maximizing “thought walking”
- Some proponents recommend focusing on random stimuli or observing interesting objects or situations to unlock creativity and help shed new light on your specific problem.
- Others suggest that when you walk you are simply better able to connect your subconscious mind which has vastly more thinking capacity to your conscious mind. The key to success is the activity of movement and not the remarkableness of your surroundings.
For me, I believe in the "subconscious conscious" thought walking theory. If fact, I feel so strongly about the cerebral benefits of walking that I have begun lobbying Pinstripe for a treadmill laptop workstation for our employees.
I believe that in the near future this workstation will be an essential office fixture of the top innovative and creative Recruitment Process Outsourcing firms. Not only will this enhance their RPO thought leadership and critical thinking, but those who adopt this strategy will also be much healthier.
I’m adding the laptop treadmill to my RPO wish list.
Post contributed by Barry Diamond. Follow me on Twitter @bddiamond
