A simple daily walk has been the catalyst for redesigning my life after 40. Here’s how (and why) you need a walking habit to unlock massive personal growth.

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It’s 5:30 a.m., the sun is barely out, the local barista hasn’t even started brewing the coffee.

And I’m walking.

My day starts with a 30-minute stroll through my neighborhood. Oftentimes with a podcast or a nonfiction audiobook in my ear.

Brooklyn in the early morning hours is … a vibe.

There’s a different energy at this time. Almost like a kinetic energy as the borough awakens from its slumber.

The streets are pretty empty.

A few bars are clearing up from a night of debauchery.

But I’ll also catch some early gym-goers making the pilgrimage to their fitness mecca, and a couple of cardio bunnies going for a morning run.

Okay, let’s not romanticize this too much.

There are some unhoused individuals and plenty of furry friends milling around trash cans, too. This is New York City after all.

But I digress.

My morning walking habit has been a staple of my slow morning routine now for quite some time.

This seemingly small ritual ignites the chain reaction that leads to a busy day of writing, building, coaching, creating content … and parenting two little kids, of course.

And it’s been a big reason why I’ve been able to overcome my burnout, find my passion at the age of 45 and get into the best shape of my life.

Today I’m sharing how (and why) to use a walking habit as the catalyst for massive personal growth.

Let’s get into it.

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Walking can be the foundation for your lifestyle redesign

There’s only so much time in the day.

You have only so much wiggle room to prioritize certain habits and routines outside of your usual grind of career, kids, eat, sleep and repeat.

The habits and routines that you end up choosing should deliver the most bang for their buck.

That’s why I like walking.

Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of running.

There’s nothing wrong with it. At all. (I can feel the runners getting all antsy and ready to hit “unsubscribe.”)

I’ve had students that run 5Ks and Marathons and do Trialthons.

But me? Nah. Not my thing.

Walking on the other hand? I’ll take several walks throughout my day. Usually one first thing to start my day.

Then another walk in the late morning as a way to decompress after creating and writing.

It’s a productivity hack that serves as a transition from creative to more processed-oriented tasks.

And then I’ll take one more walk at the end of my workday to get my kids from school.

Right now, I’m averaging about 14,000 steps per day. (You don’t need to match my daily step count.)

Walking is a cheat code for longevity

Increasing your steps and building a consistent walking habit has research-backed advantages for a longer and healthier life.

Look at the Blue Zones around the world (these are areas where the people live to at least 100 years old at 10 times the rates of other places in the U.S.).

A regular walking habit is one of the non-negotiables of those centenarian populations.

Walking helps me think.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed and anxious, there’s no better way to clear my mind than to get some natural Vitamin D and go for a walk.

If I’m stuck on something for my business, I’ll set it aside for a minute and go for a walk.

When you walk like this, it unlocks your Default Mode Network where your brain is making note of things, calculating and reprogramming in the background.

It’s essentially problem-solving behind the scenes while you’re walking around looking at nature.

As a result, I usually return with either a new perspective and the answer just comes to me naturally.

Walking is low-impact.

It doesn’t drive up hunger like traditional cardio, yet still burns calories.

And it even aids in the digestive process.

One of the best habits you can stack together is to go for a 10-minute walk after eating a meal to help control blood sugar and ease digestion.

My walks usually include something like an audiobook or podcast. But oftentimes, I’ll just opt for no audio or music at all.

It’s just me and my thoughts.

I’ll bring my pocket notebook with me and as ideas develop, I’ll jot them down to explore and unpack later.

It’s time to make time for walking

Yes, I know walking can take up a ton of time. It can be boring.

That new walking habits can end up becoming yet another thing you have to do … on top of everything else.

But, it really is that important to make it a priority anyway.

Increasing your steps is achievable when you get a little creative.

Determine your walking why

Why are you walking in the first place?

To clear your mind? Awesome.

I’ll go on walks with no audio and use it as walking meditation to bring some clarity or just alleviate some anxiety.

Is it to get in better shape? Fantastic.

Whenever I’m looking to drop a few extra pounds, I’ll add a 1,000 or 2,000 extra steps to my daily average to boost activity (and calorie burn).

Whatever your “why” is, you’ll then want to come up with a set of guidelines.

How many overall steps are you aiming for every day?

There’s nothing magical about hitting 10,000 steps. (It’s not like you’re a bum at 9,000 and then suddenly morph into a Greek God when you average 1,000 more steps per day).

On average, this study shows that individuals under the age of 60 saw the best results in the range of 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day on average.

If you’re not in that range, you need to make it a goal to get there gradually.

Are you tracking those steps?

What’s your method? Wearable watch? Phone? Guesstimate?

I’ve been using a FitBit for years and it seems to work well enough.

Progress over perfection.

Break up your goal into little milestones

For instance, my morning walk is about 6,000 total steps. I know that if I’m aiming for a goal of about 12,000 steps, I’ll be almost halfway there by the end of my walk.

I can then plan accordingly for the rest of my day.

Are you going to knock out all of your steps in one walk? Or break them up like I do?

Play around with it to find the recipe that works for you.

Figure out the routes for your walk

This is easier for me since I live in a walkable city like New York.

I have a few routes that I can choose from; and I know the distance, how many steps I can take, and how much time it takes to complete each one.

Even if you live in a suburban area, there’s likely somewhere you can go (drive to?) that can serve as your walking arena.

• High school tracks
• Local parks
• Shopping malls
• Parking lots

And if none of those are possible, walking pads are affordable on Amazon.

Treadmills at your gym can be an option.

Hell, march in place if you have to do so.

Make your walking habit more enjoyable

If you’ve been following me for some time, you know that I like the idea of making a game out of just about everything.

Your walking habit can be gamified, too.

Give yourself some rules.

For example, your big walk for the day must mean:

• You come back with three big ideas for that project you’re working on
• The only time you can listen to an audiobook or a certain podcast is if you are walking
• You can only walk on certain sides of the road; and you cannot by any means step on the cracks of the sidewalk (lest we break any mothers’ backs)
• The walk continues until you complete one chapter of an audiobook or one podcast episode
• Alternate 15 minutes of listening with 15 minutes of walking meditation

And then take your walking habit and stack it with another healthy routine to level up your fitness.

For example, when you return from your walk, you must:

1) Eat a healthy breakfast with protein and some fiber

OR 2) perform a quick mobility routine

OR even 3) knock out 50 bodyweight squats (like my client Kacey did to build better fitness habits)

Now … get started walking

Don’t overthink it.

The walk is the easiest part.

Getting started and doing it consistently … That’s the hard part.

Like any desired behavior, the key to being consistent with developing your new walking habit will rely on this prompt (from the book, Tiny Habits by Dr. BJ Fogg):

B = MAP

BEHAVIOR (desired habit) =  your MOTIVATION to complete the behavior; your ABILITY to do the behavior; and your PROMPT to start that behavior

If you’re reading this far, you have the motivation.

Just about everything has the ability to go for a walk.

It’s the prompt (or trigger) that might need some massaging.

For me, that looks like having my clothes laid out for my morning walk the night before so they’re waiting for me as soon as I pop out of bed.

No excuses.

Simple prompts and triggers can be:

• As soon as you are done with that morning breakfast, go for a walk.
• After lunch, you go for a 20-minute walk
• Before your daily mid-afternoon meeting with team members, you go for a 10-minute walk

As always, get creative with it.

Then … get to steppin’.

I hope you found this useful. If so, I’d appreciate it if you sent this newsletter to one person you think would benefit from my writing today.

And if you’re new here and enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be honored if you subscribed for more at this link.

And as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “my walking habit” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete