future walk

Seven people showed up at 6:30 am yesterday morning for our second Community Future Walk. Numbers grew from last month, and 80 percent of last month's participants returned, plus three new people. Everyone naturally paired with someone else, letting one person talk on the way out and the other on the way back. A lot of dreams were verbalized, including one that my colleague Angie and I share about Future Walking the Camino de Santiago. (We may have started something!) The gratitude in the group for simply stepping out of the noise for an hour was real and immediate. That is what this practice does.

Ten years ago, Rod and I were in the full chaos of two FBI parents raising two young kids with no family help nearby. We were in survival mode, just trying to get through each day. When we were both home, we would take an evening walk. Often we barely talked, and when we did, it was to download the day and plan for the next. Who has daycare dropoff, who has pickup, what evening activities were happening and how would we get the kids everywhere. I felt like I never thought more than 24 hours out.

One evening, for an unmemorable reason, we started talking about how we wanted our lives to be when our youngest went to college. We dreamed. Where did we want to live, what did we want to be doing. We called it our "11-Year Plan." That youngest is now going to be a senior in high school. Downstream of that conversation, we started doing the things to make it a reality. I went to grad school. We applied for FBI jobs across the country, then moved our family there. Then later back to Idaho. We made financial decisions, committed to our health differently, focused on the family strength we wanted to grow. All because we wanted to be skiing in Europe in what is now one year from now. And a lot more.

That was our first Future Walk.

I kept walking and thinking forward in the years after that first walk, but just this year I started leaning into Future Walking as a deliberate leadership and strategic tool. These were not in my plans ten years ago, but I became a board-certified health and well-being coach because of that walk. I launched the Future Walk Podcast. I started this newsletter. All of it in advancement of that future goal we dreamed on an ordinary evening.

Which brings me to why this works, because it is not just a nice idea. You’re creating the conditions for your best work.

What your brain is actually doing

Stanford researchers found that walking increases creative output by 60 percent compared to sitting, with outdoor walking outperforming indoor walking.

Duration impacts your outcome. In the first ten minutes, your prefrontal cortex is firing for executive function. You are in tactical mode, focused and directive. Around 15 to 20 minutes, your brain moves out of task mode and into the network responsible for creative thinking, pattern recognition, and self-reflection. This is where strategic clarity lives. Push past 30 minutes and your brain achieves something researchers call attention restoration. Rumination quiets. Future simulation activates.

Extended time in nature reduces the kind of repetitive negative thinking that drains effectiveness. Nature is not backdrop. It is a neurological amplifier at every phase.

This underused leadership move is so simple, it’s easy to underestimate its power. Step out of the noise and walk forward into clarity.

Duration matters and is the variable most people miss. A ten-minute walk is not a shorter version of a visioning walk. It is a different cognitive tool entirely. Set your intention first, then choose your duration. Every walk starts tactical. The longer you go, the deeper your thinking goes.

Four ways to Future Walk

Daily (10 to 15 minutes, solo). The antidote to reaction. Ask yourself what is most important to you in whatever part of the day you have left. This works whether it is first thing in the morning or late afternoon when your to-do list has only grown.

Reconnection (30 to 40 minutes, with a partner). The antidote to disconnection. Two questions: What is most important to you this week? How can I support you?

Strategic (30 to 40 minutes, solo or paired). The antidote to survival mode. Identify your top three priorities for the next month or quarter or work through a complicated issue with a colleague. This is a natural walk for mentoring and coaching conversations.

Visioning (40 to 50 or more minutes, solo or paired). The antidote to drift. One question: Who do I want to be three to five years from now, or at the next significant milestone? Get real clarity on where you are heading. Everything you do – and don’t do – between now and then will become clearer once you know where you’re heading.

A few keys

Walk outside. Leave your phone behind, or place it on Do Not Disturb if you must carry it. Journal immediately after. Do a full brain dump of every unfiltered idea before you lose it. Make this a rhythm, not a one-time event.

The 11-Year Plan Rod and I dreamed on that walk is almost here. It is not exactly what we once imagined (moving to New Zealand or Germany the moment the kids were gone is no longer our top priority), but our life is much better than had we just gone where the currents took us. Your future self is out there waiting. Take a Future Walk to design it.

Build the life you're working for.

— Sarah

P.S. This week on the Future Walk Podcast, my guest Michele Phillips and I talk about how alignment, not adrenaline, helps you lead with purpose. Whether you are ready to lead your life with purpose or want to learn how slowing down helps leaders make better decisions, this episode is for you. The Future Walk Podcast and Michele Phillips | Run on Alignment, not Adrenaline.