I used to feel tremendous guilt if I wanted to go for a walk, both in my traditional job and when I am writing. Very few people around me seemed to take a moment. Hell, most people I knew would work through their lunches, munching on a sandwich and few grapes, busily typing away.

So, if I took the time to walk, I probably wasn’t doing my job, right?

If I felt like I had the time to cruise the neighbourhood, I couldn’t possible be busy enough.

Except that I was, in both cases.

Taking a moment doesn’t make you a slacker or unproductive. Quite the opposite. More and more, we are starting to recognize that staying busy doesn’t make you more productive. In fact, sometimes by making your work window shorter, you focus your attention and make it more effective.

That’s the same principle at work with going for a walk, or a swim, or reading a book. It doesn’t even have to be for a long sting, just a few minutes out for your brain and your stamina to recover, to breathe a few breaths, and to ruminate on new ideas.

So why all of the guilt?

If we know that tightening windows makes us more productive, and we know that taking moments throughout the day focuses our attention, why the panic?

I am sure this is just one of the vestiges of the ‘old ways’ of doing business that we can slough off, hopefully sooner rather than later. It is just frustrating to feel the guilt of a thousand generations just because we don’t look as busy.