Real Talk: Your job isn't the reason you don't get outside. You are.
Copper Harbor, Michigan
As I wrote last week, the number one reason that people claim they don't have enough time to go outside and exercise is because of their jobs. In that article, I acknowledged that employment is a massive consumer of our life energy and that shitty jobs can indeed destroy a great deal of our well-being. There are multiple potential solutions to this problem, however, with the most obvious one being that if you find yourself stuck in a toxic work environment, you should go out and find a better job.
But even if you find yourself in the midst of a truly shitty employment situation coupled with a downturn in the economy that might not allow you to go out and find another job, I personally think that blaming your job for a supposed inability to get outside and exercise is a handy scapegoat that most people are hesitant to disagree with. The only problem is, the blame-game doesn't live up to actual scrutiny... and I'm the one who's going to call you on your bull shit.
People love to bitch and moan about their jobs, their bosses, the customers they "serve..." most anything, as far as I can tell. It's easier to sit back and complain about the supposed injustices of the world than it is to take personal responsibility for building your own life and creating the best life that you can imagine, right here and right now, in spite of the obstacles that you're faced with. Hell, I know I’ve been guilty of it myself.
In an older column on Singletracks.com, I analyzed in great detail the schedule of the average American. The average American works about 9.4 hours per day and commutes about 0.9 hours per day. On top of this, the average American spends about 0.6 hours per day on food preparation, 1.1 hours per day on food consumption, 0.7 hours per day on personal hygiene, and 7 hours per day sleeping. On the average workday, that total of daily life activities comes to about 19.7 hours.
News flash: that still leaves a solid 4.3 hours of time left over. And if you only work an 8-hour day, that increases your daily free time to a whopping 6 hours!
For the bare minimum Outside 365 threshold, I recommend covering one human-powered mile outside per day. Walking a mile takes a maximum of 30 minutes to complete... and usually less.
Where the fuck are your extra 4-6 hours of the day going? And why can't you carve out 30 minutes to go outside and breathe some fresh air? Why can't you dedicate just 30 minutes to doing literally the #1 healthiest and most important thing that you can possibly spend your free time on?
Actually, I can tell you where your 6 hours are going: on average, they're spent watching television and scrolling on your smartphone.
How Smartphones and TV Destroy More of Our Time than We Spend Working
As I've written previously, the average American also spends a whopping 5.4 hours per day watching TV and about 3.5 hours per day on their smartphone. That's almost 9 hours right there!
Granted, plenty of the supposed 9.4 hours that you're "working" are wasted scrolling on Instagram instead, but even still, there's so much time waste attributed to smartphones and TV that I don't even want to hear you complain about your job until you cut out some of the most obvious time waste in your life.
Get Out on Your Lunch Break
A quick lunch break walk in Gunnison, Colorado
Some readers who are still unwilling to take personal responsibility for their lives have then responded by saying that they don't have enough time in the evenings to go outside due to family and social commitments. In their view, between work, family, and friends, they have no time for themselves.
If this is really the case, then firstly, your values are seriously fucked, and you need to take another hard look at them. Here's a great primer.
But secondly, if you're "working" 9.4 hours per day, that "work" time probably includes a lunch break. Remember that walking a mile only takes a maximum of 30 minutes, which can easily be fit into a short lunch break.
In fact, my lunch break is one of my favorite times to go on a walk. (I even wrote about this way back in January 2018.) Not only is the sun out and the weather often beautiful, but getting out in nature is scientifically proven to not only relieve stress, but it also increases focus and concentration. This means that if you go outside and walk a mile in a park, you will come back to work with renewed energy and focus, allowing you to perform your job even better in the afternoon than you would have otherwise.
The benefits of walking on your lunch break are so impactful, in fact, that if companies actually wanted to maximize employee performance, they would prescribe lunch-hour walks to reenergize their employees and help them overcome the typical afternoon slump. Walking outside is truly a superpower that more people would benefit from acknowledging.
One Final Tough Pill to Swallow
As Harry Browne has written, we can't deal with reality and the challenges of the world until we are first honest with ourselves. So be honest with yourself: your job isn't to blame for your inability to fit a 30-minute walk into your daily schedule.
You are.
If you're using your job as an excuse, let me tell you right now, that's all it is: an excuse. And a poor one.
Own your own shit and be brutally honest with yourself. If you wanted it bad enough, you'd make it happen.
Coming soon: Part 3, with some concrete solutions to the problem of overwork.
