I’m a pacer
No, not that kind of pacer! I realized the other day that I pace back and forth…a lot. Sometimes for an hour at a time. The weird thing is that I don’t do it consciously. Most of the time I will have been pacing around the room for 20 minutes before it hits me, “When did I get up and start pacing?”.
The upside is I find that, when pacing, I’m able to think deeply and efficiently. I often find that questions that I struggle with throughout the day can be resolved with a solid session of pacing. I liken it to the standard meditation technique of softly staring at a familiar object. The idea (I presume) is that since your senses are not being stimulated at all, your mind is free of outside distractions. Similarly, when I’m pacing around back and forth – covering the same steps over and over – there are no outside distractions. My mind is able to dedicate 100% of its processing power to internal thought. The key, however, is to find an environment that is so familiar you can mindlessly and freely walk around without thought.
So, why am I telling you this? You may have noticed that I categorized this post under the Lifehacks category. This is because the process of pacing for me is just that. If pacing doesn’t work for you, find a method that does. I promise that it will help you reach conclusions to complex issues you may be deliberating over.
