Comment by awjr | Hacker News Reader

Comment by awjr | Hacker News Reader

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Is it the act of just moving? I'm assuming this also goes for cycling? I cycle to work (5 miles each way) and the 25 minutes each way have sections where I can mentally focus on other things and just let my body ride.

I can pretty much set myself up for the work that day in the morning thinking through issues very deeply. In the evening, I find it clears my head and lets me think around any issues I've had during the day or just get myself prepped for any side projects I'm working on that evening.

I like the idea of a walking meeting however the dynamics of having 5 people walk together and be able to have good conversations might not work. I'm guessing 2-3 people maximum would work.

How does this relate to standing desks? Standing desks with treadmills underneath them? ;)

Sometimes, I get the best ideas while in the shower, so I'm not sure it is even the act of "moving" that does it.

For me it is anything that helps me not fix on the problem. Standing in front of the computer, staring at the code always pushes me in the same direction; once I am up to something else, but still 'lightly' thinking about the problem I come up with better solutions. It's almost as if I am thinking about it I can't think of anything valuable; once I stop thinking about the issue at hand everything just happens to fall in place.

PG has theories on why: http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html

For solving problems showers are faster, but walking is better for higher level problems requiring greater thought. A shower is great for knocking out a block quickly, while if I have a really hard problem a long walk is better.

I wonder if there's a patent on a treadmill shower desk.

Now just add a fridge and a microwave and you'll almost never have to get off.

And sleeping on a problem.

A friend and I who worked together used to have walking discussions when it was nice outside. I think we maxed out at 3 people, but as our walk was around the parking lot, I'd say anymore than 3 would be a bit problematic.

Did this improve the discussion? Who knows, but it certainly was nice to get outside and have a reason to walk around.

The article mentions this as a topic for future study.

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