Stanford research found that walking boosts creative inspiration. They examined creativity levels of people while they walked versus while they sat. A person's creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when walking.

[box] Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple), was known for his walking meetings. Walter Isaacson: “We talked a bit about the Aspen Institute, which I had recently joined, and I invited him to speak at our summer campus in Colorado. He'd be happy to come, he said, but not to be onstage. He wanted, instead, to take a walk so we could talk. That seemed a bit odd. I didn't yet know that taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation.”[/box]

A new study by Stanford researchers provides an explanation for this. The study found that walking indoors or outdoors similarly boosted creative inspiration. The act of walking itself, and not the environment, was the main factor. Across the board, creativity levels were consistently and significantly higher for those walking compared to those sitting.

The phenomena is not new, see in the following TED video, where Nilofer Merchant suggests to make one-on-one meetings by walking with the person.

Joel Stafford

My profession is online marketing and development (10+ years experience), check my latest mobile app called Upcoming or my Chrome extensions for ChatGPT. But my real passion is reading books both fiction and non-fiction. I have several favorite authors like James Redfield or Daniel Keyes. If I read a book I always want to find the best part of it, every book has it's unique value.