Walking Your Way Into Better Thinking

Will: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Unstoppable You podcast. So pumped that you guys are here. It's your hosts, coach Will. Alycia: And coach Alicia. And today, we're talking about one of my all time favorite tips. Will: I know that we share, a love for this tip specifically. And if you're listening, this can be really helpful for all the things. I mean, confidence, motivation, energy, focus. Alycia: Yes. Will: I got ADHD, and it helps me a ton with, you know, that specific, aspect of my life as well. Alycia: Yes. And it's something that you don't have to practice really. You just have to get out there and do it. So I love how tangible and action oriented this is, and it works literally every time. Yes. Will: And you might be thinking that we're gonna be coming up with like some crazy, you know, tip and tool that we invented. Alycia: Five step strategy. Will: In reality, this is just going for a freaking walk. Excuse my Serious. Language over here. It's like we're just going for a walk. You know, one thing that we like to talk about a lot is movement creates motivation. Yeah. And something that I feel like I always rely on, or I should say used to rely on, is I I needed to feel motivated in order to take We talk about this lot. But I I think slowly realized that that is not how my brain works. That's not how I work. And instead, I just needed to move my body. And that usually led to momentum, usually led to motivation Yeah. For Alycia: It's so true. A lot of times we we wait to feel the thing, but instead of just doing the thing that'll make us feel the way that we want to feel. Right? We wait to, you know, get our homework done. We're waiting for that motivation. But if we just got it done, we'd feel like, oh my gosh, I'm on top of the world. Like, let me go do some more. Yeah. Right? Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll Will: talk about why this is so impactful, how to, you know, quickly apply it because it doesn't have to be, I'm gonna go for a walk for, you know, sixty minutes or two hours before I start homework. Like, it can be literally three minutes is something that I, you know, sometimes do. But I think one of my favorite quotes of all time, and I think just a mental model that I I know a lot of students could benefit from that I used to, is it's easier to act your way into successful thinking than it is to think your way into successful acting. Alycia: Yeah. Will: So again, kind of going back to that idea that act your way. You got to move your body to feel good and to think well. And it's a much more effective and efficient way to, you know, think well than to try to just muster up enough positive thoughts. Yes. That's why. Yeah. That's why we got to do it. Plus it's just good for your body, you know, moving, create serotonin, good dopamine. Yeah. So when when do you feel like you like going for walks most? Alycia: Oh my gosh. Well, anytime that I'm doing work or, you know, and I'm just feeling stuck. Right? If I'm trying to get an assignment done and my brain is just not working, especially if it's like a discussion question or an essay or something that requires thinking and my brain just doesn't wanna think, that's a great time for me to just get up, go grab a, you know, a cup of water or something like that, bottle water bottle and hit the hit the road. Right? Just Yep. Go for a walk around my neighborhood. Will: Yep. Going for a walk, getting steps in Yes. And listening to a podcast maybe or like your favorite pump up music. Alycia: Sure. I don't Will: know who who's who do you listen to to get Alycia: pumped up? AJR, I mean, is kind of a a bop when I'm trying to, like, get confident and get excited. I love it. Will: I love it. I'm a I'm a country guy, and Yeah. I feel like it's not like the typical pump up music. Alycia: Sure. Will: But it it actually does the opposite where it, like, relaxes me so that when I get back home, I'm in, like, a more of like a relaxed focused zen state. I love Which again, country music doesn't really like attached to being zen, but that's just what works for me. So I just know that when I go for a walk and I go, you know, maybe it's five to twenty minutes, somewhere around there is kind of like my average, and I come back, I'm just in a better mood. And it's easier to do harder things when you're in a better mood than if you're in a really crappy mood. I think that's like really simple. Again, easier to act your way into successful thinking. Alycia: Yeah, a 100%. And along with that, when you feel so stuck in this assignment, I don't wanna do it. You're kinda coming from a place of, maybe it's not insecurity, but just negativity, right? Yeah. But then when you get up and go do something healthy, like go for a walk, now you're in a place of power. You're in a place of positivity. And so now you're ahead of the game. So when you get back home, you're you're rolling with it. You're rolling with it. You're like, well, I just went and did some did a walk. Right? This assignment got no place. Right? Yeah. Along with the music thing too, recording like a voice memo. Right? That is one of my yeah. One of my go to's. If I have questions that I got to answer, an essay to think about, whatever. Yeah. I'll record a little voice memo. Yeah. Take you through it. Will: So what does that look like? I mean, I do this twice a day. Like, this is a this is something that I probably rely on a little bit too much at times. But how would you, if you're a student listening to this, actually apply that to your life? Alycia: Yeah. Well, anytime that you're, you know, you have an assignment that you feel stuck on, you don't wanna do, then go outside. Go take a walk. If you have a walking pad, then that's even better. But, yeah, I love using voice memos. Sometimes I'll write down the the discussion questions or whatever I'm working on Mhmm. On my notes app. That way it's really accessible. And, just go for for ten minute walk even. Around your block. What would you say? Will: Yeah. I think the voice memo is like a a crazy life hack that I have realized. I think since ChatGPT and AI has, like, come into the, you know, kinda like everyday life, I will start every single day with a walk. And I know it's not really what, you know, a lot of students will do because Alycia: School. Maybe you walk to the bus stop. Will: Yeah. Maybe you walk to the bus stop. Maybe it is, you know, you've got like morning practice or you got to, you know, go to the gym or you like are the type of person to go to the gym before, school. I know actually quite a few students who do that. Whatever it may be, mean, you could do it before school, after school, right before you go to bed. Mean, I think all all those times are great times to just get in like a quick ten minute walk. And pulling out a voice memo app and just brain dumping. I think there's so much value with my brain that has about 30,000 tabs open every single moment. Yes. Just being able to brain dump and just starting with, okay, chat, I'm going to tell you everything that's on my mind and I want you to organize everything. And the thing is, like, I talk way faster than I type. And so it's a whole lot easier for me to do that than, you know, writing down on a piece of paper all of my thoughts. And then once I'm done with the walk, then I copy the transcript from the voice memo, upload it to some AI software, and it organizes my thoughts. Then afterwards, not only do I feel better because I'm on a walk, but I've also have a lot of my thoughts organized, those discussion questions answered, you know, maybe some of the brain dumping of all of my assignments that I need to catch up on because maybe last week was a week of procrastinating work. So go for a walk, move yourself into motivation, Don't rely and wait for motivation to to move. Flip it around, act your way into successful thinking. That's our podcast for today, everybody. Yep. Go forth, conquer, get your steps in. Yes. And I think like 8,000, 5,000, I think even like 5,000 steps a day. I feel like if that's like your goal, twenty minutes of walking, I feel like you're gonna see a huge impact in your confidence, motivation, and your energy. Alycia: Absolutely. Will: Awesome. Yeah. See you guys. Alycia: Get walking.