7 ms·
Believe it or not I do much of my work walking along the street. When I'm doing office hours at YC (and the weather's good and we don't need to look at screens
by pg 16y ago
Believe it or not I do much of my work walking along the street. When I'm doing office hours at YC (and the weather's good and we don't need to look at screens) I usually suggest going for a walk.
- Skroob 16y agoI suppose the MacBook Air is light enough that one could do "look at screen" work like this. Watch out for traffic though.
- beoba 16y agoAnd assuming you're good at typing one-handed :)
- robg 16y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripatetic_school
- redthrowaway 16y agoI'm assuming this is "meet with/talk to hopefuls" kind of work?
- kunley 16y agoVery smart strategy, considering this: Just today I've heard a theory, that when you walk around brain is more able to try new ways of thinking and solving problems, because the 'motion center' in the brain is doing what it's supposed to do: handling one's movements. On the contrary when we are not moving, this center can often overwhelm the thought process with already established habits, which makes trying new things harder. I thing it works - even in offices many people start walking in circles when they have an important decision to make. Funny, in my language the word meaning 'reflexively', 'instinctively' is in a form which can be literally translated 'out of the movement', which quite fits this theory. I didn't look for the scientific background, but I know from the context of how I've heard this, that it was taught at the univ on a psychology specialization.
- nick_urban 16y agoInteresting. Sometimes we speak metaphorically of life's inertia. If the part of the brain that controls our actual movement also controls our habits of thought, I guess we are not far off! Nietzsche said that all great thoughts are conceived while walking... perhaps this is why.
- MediaBehavior 16y agore: Nietzsche... An early Western practitioner of "walking meditation" perhaps? We yogis from Berkeley prefer lotus posture with gaze turned toward spiritual eye ;) Good to have you aboard, Nick. Hope you enjoy an addiction to HN as much as I do.
- hasenj 16y agoIt's probably already a known phenomenon to lots of people, and that theory you mentioned is just some guy's hypothesis as to why it is so.
- marceldegraaf 16y agoThat's funny: usually when I'm about to make a phone call I almost automatically get out of my chair/sofa and start walking around. For some reason having a phone conversation works better for me when walking around. Perhaps it's due to the same theory.
- wahnfrieden 16y agoAristotle's Peripatetic school was all about walking while thinking and teaching and learning.
- cicero 16y agoThank you for giving Aristotle some credit! Even though modern science has been able to correct some of his ideas, he was an amazing intellect and still has much to teach us.
- mmaunder 16y agoYou need to get your ass back in that office and code. Edit: Just realized I replied to pg. Well, get your ass back into that office and implement some of those great ideas then.
- cperciva 16y agoWhen I was working on my thesis I did much of the same thing -- the majority of my "thinking" time was spent walking in a loop around the college gardens, and I would only go inside to type out a few paragraphs once I had composed them mentally. I got quite annoyed when the college closed the gardens between midnight and 4 AM...
- koenigdavidmj 16y agoMaybe a CS student walking alone outside at 2am is not the best of ideas.
- robryan 16y agoDon't know where you live but I never had a problem or saw anyone else have a problem late at night over my 4 years of uni.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoWhen a student I would regularly be out and about between midnight and dawn - it's when I did my best work. I never had any concerns. Still don't. It's a pity that you live somewhere that makes it an issue. I wasn't a CS student, though.
- cperciva 16y agoAside from the danger of tripping over my feet, it was quite safe. Oxford dates from a period when the "town" would routinely riot against the "gown", and college are, quite literally, fortified. The Wadham college gardens aren't quite so well guarded as the college proper, but they're still surrounded by a 15' stone wall -- hardly something anyone is going to climb over just on the chance that they can mug someone.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoInteresting - what college?
- cperciva 16y ago
- gommm 16y agoWhenever I'm reading a book to learn something I tend to walk randomly around the house while reading... For some reason, it feels like it helps me to concentrate on the content and I remember it better that way...
- derrida 16y agoI am a runner. I run 60 minutes to 120 minutes / day. I understand this. But at some point, you do have to click buttons in some divine ordered pattern, right? Or are you saying you don't even do this?