Daily walking
A long walk most days, often without headphones
30 minutes or more, deliberately, used variously for zone 2 volume, for thinking through a hard problem, or for getting light and movement after meals. Several people here specifically walk without input, as a form of thinking time. It is the lowest-barrier habit in the directory and the easiest to keep for decades.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Ali AbdaalDoes it
Doctor turned YouTuber · author of Feel-Good Productivity
From his flat to the studio on foot every day as an intentional default, plus evening walks with friends.
Source: aliabdaal.com: 28 best pieces of life advice - Andy GalpinDoes it
Exercise physiologist · Perform podcast
When sleep has been short he abandons the hard session and gets three or four ten-minute walks in instead. Almost anyone can walk when exhausted, he says, and the low-level movement adds up if bad nights are frequent.
Source: Perform: How to Boost Your Metabolism & Burn Fat - Austin KleonDoes it
Writer and artist · Steal Like an Artist
Calls himself a huge believer in the benefits of walking, and wonders in passing whether it counts as a religion. With a friend in town he skipped the shops and the museum for a 30-minute stroll, the same route he had walked alone days earlier to clear his mind.
Source: AustinKleon.com: The 30-minute noticing workout“I have noticed that if I walk with a notebook in my little hip pouch, I’m more likely to get ideas.”
AustinKleon.com: Walking with a net (opens in a new tab) · 11 Aug 2023 - Cal NewportDoes it
Computer science professor · author of Deep Work
Dedicated thinking time comes from regular walks, often spent working through a specific problem away from any screen.
Source: Deep Questions podcast - Chris BumsteadDoes it
Bodybuilder · Six-time Classic Physique Mr. Olympia
Walking instead of taking an Uber whenever possible is one of the six habits he says keep him on track on the road. It sits at the end of a list that is otherwise about food and an early workout, and he offers it without any step target attached.
Source: The Standard newsletter: How to Master Your Mindset - Chris WilliamsonDoes it
Host · Modern Wisdom
Walks fifteen minutes every morning, for the daylight and for thinking time.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & Butterflies - Daniel AmenDoes it
Psychiatrist · Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Running a chain of clinics means a day full of conference calls. CNBC reported that he makes a point of never sitting down for one, and walks and talks instead.
Source: CNBC Make It: Ping pong, walks and mind exercises: Brain-boosting habits of a renowned brain doctor during self-quarantine - Mel RobbinsDoes it
Author and podcaster · The Let Them Theory
She and her husband Chris walk almost every morning, and she puts it right after getting up, before the phone, as the way to get daylight and be present for a few minutes. Even a lap of the block counts, in her telling.
Source: The Mel Robbins Podcast: 3 Morning Habits to Feel Incredible - Morgan HouselDoes it
Writer · The Psychology of Money
One blog post or book chapter costs him roughly three walks around the neighborhood. On each of them his whole attention is on what he just wrote and whether any of it is true. His brain does not work as well sitting at a desk, he says. Bad weather means folding laundry or doing the dishes instead, so long as he keeps moving.
Source: The Tim Ferriss Show: Morgan Housel on Contrarian Money and Writing Advice (#702) - Oprah WinfreyDoes it
Talk show host and producer · The Oprah Winfrey Show
Walking was the piece she repeated three times over when she summed up her exercise for O in 2017, sitting alongside stretching and yoga. Sky, trees and movement add up to happiness for her body, she wrote, and every day goes better with a hike in it.
Source: Oprah.com: How Oprah Lives Healthier Than Ever Before - Ryan HolidayDoes it
Writer · The Daily Stoic
Walks the farm most mornings, then goes upstairs to the office and pulls out his notebooks.
Source: RyanHoliday.net: This Is The Most Important Thing You Can Do Each Morning - Sahil BloomDoes it
Author · The 5 Types of Wealth
His step count went from about 2,000 a day in 2021 to closer to 20,000 in 2022, and he calls walking the daily habit that has done most for his life. He credits a six-month-old who only slept on walks for part of that volume.
Source: The Curiosity Chronicle: The Single Greatest Habit You Can Build“If there is one daily habit that has had the greatest positive impact on my life since I implemented it about a year ago, it is walking. In 2021, I averaged about 2,000 steps per day. In 2022, that figure is closer to 20,000.”
The Curiosity Chronicle: The Single Greatest Habit You Can Build (opens in a new tab) · 7 Dec 2022 - Shane ParrishDoes it
Writer · Farnam Street and The Knowledge Project
Takes long walks in the afternoon while making phone calls, which is how movement gets into a day handed over to work.
Source: My Morning Routine interview - Valter LongoDoes it
Biogerontologist · The Longevity Diet
An hour a day, kept up for decades to copy what the centenarians he interviewed described. Milan makes it easy because he walks to work; Los Angeles does not, so he walks to coffee shops and restaurants instead.
Source: TODAY: Diet and exercise habits of a longevity expert who wants to live to 120 - Arnold SchwarzeneggerRecommends
Bodybuilding champion, actor, former governor · Arnold's Pump Club
Rest days are not for adding lifting, he tells app members. Walk, ruck or do yoga instead, and a brisk walk outside is one of the movement options he lists for the 20-minute floor.
Source: Arnold's Pump Club newsletter: The 20-Minute Insurance Policy - James ClearRecommends
Author · Atomic Habits
Lists a daily walk among the habits he says have the highest rate of return in life.
Source: jamesclear.com: 2018 annual review - Layne NortonRecommends
Nutrition scientist and powerlifter · Biolayne
He trains two to three hours a day. Nobody needs that, he tells people: a vigorous 30-minute walk each day already puts them well ahead, though he would still add resistance training to it.
Source: FoundMyFitness: Dr. Layne Norton on Building Muscle - Rhonda PatrickRecommends
Biomedical scientist · FoundMyFitness
Brisk walking for two to three minutes every thirty to forty-five minutes, especially near meals, is her simple way to blunt the glucose response.
Source: FoundMyFitness: exercise snacks topic page - Seth GodinRecommends
Author · Seth's Blog, published daily
His advice is to go exactly when you least want to, because that is the walk that shifts your mood and gets you upright and moving. He adds a second use beyond the exercise: if there is a conversation you keep putting off, take that person along.
Source: seths.blog: Go for a walk
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- Protocol$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Running
Regular running, from a short daily loop up to ultramarathon distance
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it, 1 recommends it - Protocol$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Swimming
Lap swimming as low-impact cardio and a reset for the head
On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 6 do it - HabitFREE, no cost
Daily step target
Hold a fixed daily step count so everyday movement does not quietly shrink on a diet
On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 2 recommend it - Habit$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Cooking family dinner
Making the evening meal from scratch as the default, kids in the kitchen
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - HabitFREE, no cost
High five in the mirror
A silent high five to your own reflection after brushing your teeth
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - HabitFREE, no cost
Menstrual cycle tracking
Logging cycle days and symptoms, then reading training and fueling against them
On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 recommends it
Habit entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.