Meeting, 15 minute walkdailywellness

This is a daily routine for time in motion and pause. Use “Meeting, 15 minute walk” to bring a little wellness into the gaps of your day.

Video conferencing uses your eyes and ears at the same time. Talk to the camera, read facial expressions on the screen, and pay attention to the mute button. For light synchronization or exchange of ideas, walking and talking is easier.

A walking meeting is a routine that replaces the conference room with a 15-minute walk. We talk without a screen, just with footsteps and dialogue.

How to propose a walking meeting

Ask your colleague, 'Would you like to walk outside for 15 minutes?' If the weather is bad, you can also walk around the lobby or hallway of your building. This works well when the agenda is not about complex decision-making, but rather about sharing ideas or meeting schedules.

It will put your mind at ease if you say in advance, 'Leave a note on your phone while walking.' There’s no need to reserve a meeting room or send a Zoom link.

If the initial suggestion is awkward, you can start with 'I'm tired of the screen, so should I go outside for a moment?' It is highly likely that the other person is feeling the same fatigue.

When talking while walking

When you walk side by side, your eyes look forward. Since you don't have to keep looking at the other person's face, you can speak more easily. After one lap—usually 10 to 15 minutes—it will naturally finish.

You can end with ‘Then we will proceed like this.’ Ideas that emerge while walking are often lighter and more practical than those that come from sitting and talking.

The walking speed matches the conversation. If you walk fast, you will run out of breath and your speech will become shorter, and if you walk slowly, your thoughts will become longer. Both are fine.

What to do when you get back

When you sit down at your desk, you leave a message with just one action from the conversation. There is no need to organize it for a long time. A one-line output from a walking meeting is often enough.

If you don't want to forget an idea that comes to you while you're walking, just write down the keywords in a memo on your phone while you're walking. Faster than recording and lighter than meeting minutes.

You don’t have to turn every meeting into a walk. Try starting with light conversation once or twice a week. 15 minutes away from the screen creates a little space in your afternoon concentration.

When I sit down at my desk after a walking meeting, I sometimes feel like my eyes are less tired. Because I wasn't looking at the camera. Because I said it while moving my body.

On rainy days, replace it with a walk around the lobby. Even if you don't go outside, just getting up and walking is enough.

You can also go out at the same time as your remote colleagues and talk on the phone for 15 minutes. Even if you don't have the same walking rhythm, it's light enough just to talk without the screen.

Walking meetings are great for conversations that don't require minutes. The bottom line is that the day's walk did its job.