4 Feb 2021 · 7 min
Thomas Anglero argues that a morning walk releases endorphins, reduces stress, and gives your day purpose. He reflects on isolation during COVID and offers practical tips for waking earlier to fit walking into your routine.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero. I'm fired up, I'm focused, I'm dialed in. And the reason why is I changed my morning routine. And what I— all I did was I added going for a walk. And that has been such a simple and significant change that usually I get up and I bike really hard, go for a hard bike ride. It's exhausting, your legs hurt for the rest of the day, your butt hurts, your other body parts hurt, if you know what I'm talking about. And I started walking. What a difference. Think about this. I want all you to think about this. Here we are, we're locked in our places, our apartments, our homes, whatever, we're confined because it's damn COVID and all that. And let's say you're listening to this podcast and the COVID time's over and you're free and you're back to normal. Why the hell aren't you outside walking first thing in the morning? Think about all the benefits you get to have fresh air in your lungs. Well, first of all, you get up with a purpose. How many wake up with a purpose? How many wake up and go through a list of all the things you got to do in your head, all the meetings you're gonna have, all the arguments, and you get stressed out immediately? How about giving yourself a gift and waking up in the morning and saying, I'm going for a walk to get some fresh air. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that a much more way, beautiful way of engaging, of welcoming, of hugging in the day into your life? Isn't that what you want to wake up to? I'm gonna go for a walk, and while I go for a walk, you know, whatever I think about, I think about. I'm sure I'm gonna think about work, but I'm not gonna start off thinking about work. I have plenty of time. I get to see the birds, I get to see the water, the streams, I get to see the neighbors walking their dogs, I get to see the kids maybe going going to school. Maybe you get outside so early nobody's outside. Maybe you get to see no one. And you get to experience nature in its quiet glory. That's beautiful. What a wonderful way to start the day. And guess how much it cost you? Nothing. All you gotta do is get out of bed, wash your face, put on your shoes, And go. That's it. No agenda. I've been doing this now for about 3 weeks, and I thought, what, something so simple cannot make a tremendous difference in my life? I mean, it's not like I was looking for a tremendous difference, but I was looking for little tweaks in life that could give such a huge advantage. Is— are they possible? Like drinking more water, little tweak, huge advantage. Going to bed a little earlier, little tweak, monster advantage, right? So let me ask you, is there any excuse that you can't wake up a half hour, 45 minutes earlier, an hour preferably, or maybe the same time? Maybe some of you have the worst morning routine. Ask yourself, what, what is my morning routine? How much time do I waste in my morning routine? If I replace that morning routine by going for a walk, then when I come back, I could turn on the coffee machine and sit in front of the PC and read the— and read the newspaper. I don't know what your morning routine is, but ask yourself, if I replaced my morning routine with just getting up and going for a walk, what would it cost me? You'll get all the advantages of like having endorphins popping out of your head like I feel now. It's fantastic. What a wonderful way to start every day. Some days you won't be able to do it because your schedule doesn't work, but you know the other 3, 4, 5 days, 6 days a week you're able to do it in. You know, don't be so critical to yourself. Don't be, you know, don't be so rigid. Life has got to be dynamic and flexible, but the beauty of it is it It's just your ritual. It's your day. Seize the day. And all it costs you is getting on your bed— getting out of bed and putting on a pair of shoes. Go for a walk. Walk yourself. Go forth and spread beauty and light while walking. That's it. That's your time. That's your uninterrupted time. That's your time where you relax your shoulders, you breathe in. There are a lot less problems, almost no problems. It's something you get to look forward to every single day that's positive and yours, uninterrupted. It doesn't include all the stuff going on in the world, doesn't include any of the crap of other people's lives. It's your time and it's your beautiful time. And all you gotta do is go for a walk. So do that. And I really, truly hope that we run into each other. And at the very least, know this: that you won't be alone in going for that walk. You may not see anybody out there, but throughout the whole world, there are other people walking at the same time. Enjoying this wonderful planet and this wonderful life that we have. Isn't that a wonderful perspective? This is Thomas Anglero in a fantastic mood, giving you a huge virtual hug and so excited for you that when you wake up tomorrow morning, you're gonna wake up with a new purpose, and that purpose is to take yourself for a beautiful walk. Nice, huh? I love you. Take care. Till next time. Thank you for listening to that episode. If you want to contact me, you can contact me on my website at anglero.com, and you can also subscribe to the newsletter, or you can find me anywhere on social media with Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. Thank you so much, and I hope to hear from you very soon.
