A visionary and the iconic co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was known for his creative and out-of-the-box thinking. His biographer Walter Isaacson noted how “taking a long walk was his preferred way to have a serious conversation.” Designer Jony Ives who worked closely with Jobs for more than 10 years in Apple, recalled how so much of their time together was spent quietly walking.
Jobs perhaps understood what most people didn’t. Numerous studies have demonstrated how walking helps boost creative thinking and cognitive function. Being on the move helped him find creative solutions to tough problems, and a neuroscientist in her latest podcast says that anybody can benefit from his 10-minute rule and become more efficient and creative. There is a science behind it, and a fascinating one at that.
If you have been glued to your screen all this while, even while reading this article, this is the time to get up and take a stroll.
What is Steve Jobs’ 10-minute rule?
Mithu Storoni, a University of Cambridge-trained neuroscientist and author of the book Hyperefficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work, emphasizes the importance of a short walk to come up with quick solutions, during her recent appearance on HBR IdeaCast podcast.
The 10-minute rule is if you are not able to solve a work problem for 10-minutes, you should leave your desk and go for a walk.
She quotes an example of a client who follows this rule.
“So for instance, I have some clients, and they’ve adopted a rule, one managing director has adopted a rule of if he’s sitting in front of his computer with a problem that he hasn’t managed to solve for 10 minutes, he leaves his desk, he goes for a walk,” says Storoni.
She says the reason this works is you can use your physiology to change your brain’s thinking patterns.
What happens when you take a short walk
“Taking a walk, for instance, first of all, it aligns your brain and your body’s physiology. Second is it keeps you in the right alert mental state, so you don’t just drift off, you don’t just fall asleep, or feel lethargic, or looking at your phone. But at the same time, it keeps your attention moving, because your surroundings are moving while you walk, so your attention can’t really fix on anything. So it drifts into your head, and explores your problems, and tries to solve them from different avenues,” she says.
When you are walking, you have to be mindful of your surrounding and rumination is also not possible. This helps get your brain into an optimal state.
“You can’t ruminate, because your attention can’t stick to one problem for too long, because you also have to pay attention to where you’re walking. So there is this mixture, this very interesting, very helpful condition created by the process of walking. The body and brain are so connected in this way that you can actually use your body to create, to nudge your brain into optimal states for the different kinds of work you want to do,” Storoni further added.
What the studies say about this rule
Study approves Jobs’ 10-minute rule and what Storoni says about walking. Stanford researchers in a 2014 study found that walking boosts creative inspiration. They studied the creativity levels of people while they walked and compared them to when they are seated. A person’s creative output increased by an average of 60 percent when walking.
The act of walking itself, rather than the environment, was the main factor improving creativity. This higher creative output supports better problem-solving and productivity at work.
Outdoor walking is also linked to increased cognitive function, attentional processes and faster reaction times, contributing to better focus and productivity compared to indoor walking or sitting, according to
a study published in Nature Scientific Reports.
Systematic Review on Micro-Breaks found that taking short breaks – including walking breaks – improved well-being by reducing fatigue and increasing vigour, which in turn improves performance, especially for clerical and creative tasks.