January 11

Week 2: Day 11                      Health Principle: Walking School

            This year, would you like to create 9 weeks of full time class (40 hours per week), become healthier at the same time, and accomplish more even though you take time for class?  Is there something you would like to know that would make your life better, if only you had more time?  Something that you could learn that would make you better at your job?  Would you like to learn a foreign language, or study history, or learn better management or parenting skills?

            Buy a waterproof CD player or iPod and you can walk and listen to books on almost any subject you wish to study.  If you walk 3 miles per day at a leisurely pace, you’ll spend about 1 hour per day walking–that’s 365 hours over the course of a year.  Divide 365 by 8 and you’ll see that allows you 45.6 workdays (8 hours long).  Assume a 5-day workweek.  That means you’ll get 9.1 weeks (over 2 months out of the year) of study, by walking one hour per day and listening while you walk.  You’ll also find that you’ll remember more of what you hear while walking than you do while sitting in class.

            Consider the wonderful opportunity that has come about in the past few years: When I first started doing the miles back around 1975, there were no personal, portable tape players.  Now, just a few 30 or so years later, when I walk, I can take with me prophets, poets, scientists, business leaders, college professors, or my favorite comedian.

            Now, you can buy whole college courses on CD or in digital downloadable form and literally listen to courses from Ivy League colleges while walking down the street in your neighborhood pushing your three-year-old child in a stroller.

            While walking I’ve been through the Bible several times, learned much of the material presented to me in medical school (lectures were recorded), learned to speak some Italian and Spanish), reviewed medical research updates, learned history, science, marketing, business, and parenting skills.

            While walking, you’re more alert and remember more than when sitting.  There’s usually no one around to distract you from what you’re learning.  You can fast forward if the teacher goes slowly or listen again if you missed something important. 

            My father, who didn’t finish college, can talk about almost anything because he has a library full of recorded material he listened to while walking over the past 20 years.  First, he carried cassettes, then CD’s, and now he downloads the Wall Street Journal and an occasional book every morning before walking.  He’s financially independent on money he made largely using knowledge he gained while walking and listening.  Yes, I am saying a big part of the reason he’s financially independent, living healthily in a coastal town is because he made time to walk and listen. 

            Still don’t think you have time to walk?  I don’t either.  I wake up every morning to go to “walking class.”  I try to learn something that will make life easier that day.  The extra energy and knowledge that comes from that walk saves me more time than it costs. 

            Abraham Lincoln said if he had 4 hours to cut down a tree, he would spend 3 hours sharpening his ax and one hour chopping the tree.  The “walking class” makes an excellent way to sharpen your ax.

            __Matthew: Chapters 13-16

            __Walk 3 miles: actual miles walked

            __Eat 5 fruits or vegetables

            __Virtue: Silence-speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling   conversation.