Got a meeting? Take a walk
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0:02 - 0:03What you're doing,
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0:03 - 0:06right now, at this very moment,
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0:06 - 0:08is killing you.
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0:08 - 0:11More than cars or the Internet
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0:11 - 0:14or even that little mobile device we keep talking about,
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0:14 - 0:17the technology you're using the most almost every day
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0:17 - 0:20is this, your tush.
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0:20 - 0:23Nowadays people are sitting 9.3 hours a day,
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0:23 - 0:26which is more than we're sleeping, at 7.7 hours.
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0:26 - 0:28Sitting is so incredibly prevalent,
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0:28 - 0:30we don't even question how much we're doing it,
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0:30 - 0:33and because everyone else is doing it,
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0:33 - 0:36it doesn't even occur to us that it's not okay.
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0:36 - 0:38In that way, sitting has become
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0:38 - 0:42the smoking of our generation.
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0:42 - 0:45Of course there's health consequences to this,
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0:45 - 0:47scary ones, besides the waist.
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0:47 - 0:51Things like breast cancer and colon cancer
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0:51 - 0:54are directly tied to our lack of physical [activity],
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0:54 - 0:57Ten percent in fact, on both of those.
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0:57 - 0:58Six percent for heart disease,
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0:58 - 1:01seven percent for type 2 diabetes,
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1:01 - 1:03which is what my father died of.
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1:03 - 1:05Now, any of those stats should convince each of us
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1:05 - 1:07to get off our duff more,
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1:07 - 1:10but if you're anything like me, it won't.
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1:10 - 1:13What did get me moving was a social interaction.
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1:13 - 1:14Someone invited me to a meeting,
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1:14 - 1:15but couldn't manage to fit me in
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1:15 - 1:18to a regular sort of conference room meeting, and said,
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1:18 - 1:22"I have to walk my dogs tomorrow. Could you come then?"
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1:22 - 1:24It seemed kind of odd to do,
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1:24 - 1:26and actually, that first meeting, I remember thinking,
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1:26 - 1:28"I have to be the one to ask the next question,"
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1:28 - 1:31because I knew I was going to huff and puff
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1:31 - 1:33during this conversation.
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1:33 - 1:36And yet, I've taken that idea and made it my own.
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1:36 - 1:38So instead of going to coffee meetings
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1:38 - 1:40or fluorescent-lit conference room meetings,
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1:40 - 1:43I ask people to go on a walking meeting,
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1:43 - 1:47to the tune of 20 to 30 miles a week.
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1:47 - 1:50It's changed my life.
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1:50 - 1:53But before that, what actually happened was,
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1:53 - 1:54I used to think about it as,
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1:54 - 1:56you could take care of your health,
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1:56 - 1:58or you could take care of obligations,
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1:58 - 2:02and one always came at the cost of the other.
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2:02 - 2:05So now, several hundred of these walking meetings later,
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2:05 - 2:07I've learned a few things.
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2:07 - 2:08First, there's this amazing thing
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2:08 - 2:11about actually getting out of the box
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2:11 - 2:13that leads to out-of-the-box thinking.
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2:13 - 2:18Whether it's nature or the exercise itself, it certainly works.
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2:18 - 2:21And second, and probably the more reflective one,
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2:21 - 2:23is just about how much each of us
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2:23 - 2:25can hold problems in opposition
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2:25 - 2:27when they're really not that way.
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2:27 - 2:29And if we're going to solve problems
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2:29 - 2:31and look at the world really differently,
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2:31 - 2:33whether it's in governance or business
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2:33 - 2:36or environmental issues, job creation,
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2:36 - 2:38maybe we can think about how to reframe those problems
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2:38 - 2:40as having both things be true.
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2:40 - 2:42Because it was when that happened
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2:42 - 2:44with this walk-and-talk idea
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2:44 - 2:48that things became doable and sustainable and viable.
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2:48 - 2:50So I started this talk talking about the tush,
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2:50 - 2:54so I'll end with the bottom line, which is,
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2:54 - 2:55walk and talk.
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2:55 - 2:57Walk the talk.
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2:57 - 3:00You'll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking,
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3:00 - 3:02and in the way that you do,
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3:02 - 3:05you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas.
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3:05 - 3:07Thank you.
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3:07 - 3:11(Applause)
- Title:
- Got a meeting? Take a walk
- Speaker:
- Nilofer Merchant
- Description:
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Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a "walking meeting" -- and let ideas flow while you walk and talk.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 03:28
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Got a meeting? Take a walk | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Got a meeting? Take a walk | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Got a meeting? Take a walk | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Got a meeting? Take a walk | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Got a meeting? Take a walk | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |