Episode 78
Walking Talk for Work and Fundraising with Deborah Drummond
Episode Summary: In this episode, Deborah Drummond, co-creator of ‘They Did It Tour’, shares with our hosts the joy and the many benefits of working while walking.
From beautiful Vancouver in Canada, Deborah Drummond is an Ultrapreneur⭐️#1 Int'l Best Selling Author/Speaker/Anti Aging Expert/Media Mastermind/Ayurveda/Mom and co-creator of ‘They Did It Tour’, 2 women rocking and walking 8 marathons in Ireland to raise funds for the music industry.
Deborah does most of her work while being active, whether walking, hiking or swimming. This practice is a great way to exercise, save money and time, and be more productive.
In this conversation, among many great insights, she shares some practical tips on inviting her business partners, staff or clients to join in her walks.
This is also a habit that helps connect with oneself and Nature, in addition to allowing the reduction of our carbon footprint and creating a positive impact on the environment.
For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org
Want to join in the conversation?
Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.
Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!
-----
Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria, he’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
Brian is a Real Estate Title Insurance Professional and Goat Farmer in the US.
Kristina is working on design theory and using design process in everything. With a background in architecture, civil engineering and education, she loves research, play and co-creating. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base in the U.S.
From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.
-----
The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Ima.
Speaker:I live in Scotland.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.
Speaker:Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.
Speaker:Hey, I'm Rod.
Speaker:I'm from Peru.
Speaker:Welcome to Carbon Sessions.
Speaker:A podcast with carbon conversations for every day with everyone
Speaker:from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:In our conversations, we share ideas, perspectives, questions, and things we
Speaker:can actually do to make a difference.
Speaker:So don't be shy.
Speaker:Join our carbon sessions because it's not too late.
Speaker:Hi, I am . Hi.
Speaker:I'm.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Brian.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Christina.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Jen.
Speaker:And today we have our guest with us, Deborah.
Speaker:So we are excited to have you on, uh, the carbon sessions today, , because we like
Speaker:to have conversations with people, uh, around the world, about things that we can
Speaker:do to help reduce the carbon footprint.
Speaker:And one of the things you and I were talking.
Speaker:was, , working while walking, and I wonder if you wanna talk about that a little bit.
Speaker:So instead of driving, instead of maybe even going to a restaurant,
Speaker:just actually just getting together and walking that meeting, whether
Speaker:it's by earbuds or together.
Speaker:So yes, we're exercising, we're doing great stuff, but we're not, it doesn't
Speaker:take anything extra to, to do that.
Speaker:And literally, that's how I do as many of my meetings as.
Speaker:It's just walk.
Speaker:I call it a walk and talk.
Speaker:It's just this walk and talk.
Speaker:And do you walk outside in our beautiful Vancouver rain, are we walking
Speaker:inside on a treadmill or what are you doing ? So yes, I do live in Vancouver.
Speaker:I do live in the rainy city of Vancouver.
Speaker:And every time you see it, it's got a range up.
Speaker:But you know what?
Speaker:As a Vancouver rate, like literally born here, the rain doesn't bother.
Speaker:. Um, and we do walk in the rain cuz if you don't do something in the
Speaker:rain, you're staying a lot inside.
Speaker:But I also , I have the fortunate, I live downtown and I, you know,
Speaker:live in a con condominium that does have also exercise facility.
Speaker:And so I, you know, I'm doing a big walk, like I'm walking across Ireland, so I'm
Speaker:now in that gym, uh, three days a week.
Speaker:And I actually go with friends and we actually do treadmill
Speaker:and we do exercise together.
Speaker:And then we all, I also do.
Speaker:So we have a pool and I, we, we literally will swim and have meetings
Speaker:and we'll talk a little bit, then we'll do a lap, and then we'll
Speaker:talk a little bit and we do a lap.
Speaker:So just try to mix, mix those two things together.
Speaker:Happens quite a lot.
Speaker:But yes, rain is not a deterrent here.
Speaker:. That's great.
Speaker:Um, Debra, this is Brian.
Speaker:So nice to meet you, uh, and excited to be here with you.
Speaker:I'm, I'm curious, so I do, I, I'm a big fan of the walk and talk.
Speaker:I was excited to join today's session and, and hear about you
Speaker:and this pattern you've been.
Speaker:I've got some clients and colleagues that it's normal practice.
Speaker:Like they know what it's about and they're like, oh yeah,
Speaker:like I stand up for my desk.
Speaker:I'm like, let's walk and talk.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And they like get into it.
Speaker:And some clients will even do hike and talks and we'll like, yeah, our
Speaker:planned meeting is we go once a quarter and we go hike this hike together.
Speaker:How do you, so for some people in my life, that expectation is sort of hard.
Speaker:I don't know how it got built in the first place.
Speaker:, how do you, how do you broach that with someone that you're just getting to know?
Speaker:Meetings are often, you're getting to know someone in the first, on
Speaker:the front side of a relationship.
Speaker:Do you bring this up early in the relationship and the conversation?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And how do you tips on setting that kind of expectation?
Speaker:I think because, um, I come from an entrepreneurial background
Speaker:and so do most of my clients and colleagues that I'm talking.
Speaker:and, um, particularly with the fact that not a lot of us
Speaker:have gotten together lately.
Speaker:Um, so depending on who I'm talking to, one, I can go at
Speaker:it from an economic standpoint.
Speaker:It's like, Hey, you know, let's not go and, you know, have lunch again.
Speaker:I'm sure you have lots of lunches with people.
Speaker:I'm sure.
Speaker:Lunch again.
Speaker:And, um, why don't we layer, and people really love that word layering.
Speaker:I mean, because you know, if you're, if you're, I don't say the word B
Speaker:and ends with Y and there's an S in the middle, it's not something.
Speaker:Our team doesn't allow each other to say.
Speaker:So, you know, in my very abundant, passionate, fulfilling life, , that leaves
Speaker:little room in my schedule, I'll come at it from like, You know, let's, let's not
Speaker:spend 50 bucks on lunch today and let's just go exercise and let's just talk.
Speaker:Let's just talk what we need to talk about.
Speaker:At the same time, some people are like, yeah, why am I going to sitting in my
Speaker:house driving and sitting in a restaurant?
Speaker:So I'll kind of come from an exercise standpoint or from a.
Speaker:, you know, let's save some money standpoint.
Speaker:Or the other thing is I'm not getting enough time to go out there and exercise.
Speaker:I'm finding that I'm sitting at my desk all the time, you know,
Speaker:you don't live that far from me.
Speaker:I think it would be really easy.
Speaker:Or look, why don't we just go and walk and talk?
Speaker:And they're like, it's, it's con, it's like a new concept, right?
Speaker:They're also trying to find time to exercise.
Speaker:They're also trying to find time to get out.
Speaker:But no one's just really approached him with the idea, or especially
Speaker:when I go, I've got a hot.
Speaker:I've got a hot tub, I've got a pool in a hot tub.
Speaker:When's the last time that you went swimming?
Speaker:And they're like, I don't know, like 20 years ago.
Speaker:And I'm like, well, why don't we just do our meeting there?
Speaker:It's super fun.
Speaker:And they might think it's a little obscure, but when I'm like, well,
Speaker:when's the last time you exercised?
Speaker:And look, it's super cool and you know, we can just come to the house
Speaker:after and have a drink or something.
Speaker:But, you know, not a martini, but it just, it's just different.
Speaker:And people are thinking, I think they're trying to find
Speaker:creative ways to get together.
Speaker:And I also think that they're trying to find ways to save money.
Speaker:Most people will go exercise if they're looking at the walk is exercise.
Speaker:If they make a commitment to go with somebody.
Speaker:And so I'll go, oh my gosh.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:A lot of people also know that I'm training for a big event in 2024
Speaker:and I'm like, look, I've gotta get in as much exercise as possible.
Speaker:I had a friend, for example, last Saturday, you know, and
Speaker:he's like, Hey, let's hang out.
Speaker:I'm like, well, unless you're prepared to walk, I'm not really into hanging
Speaker:out right now cause I have to use all my time to trade for this event.
Speaker:Super important to me.
Speaker:He's like, okay.
Speaker:And literally he was like, As we were walking, I'm like,
Speaker:come on, you can do this.
Speaker:And he's like, I gotta go.
Speaker:He had to go shopping.
Speaker:And I'm like, okay, let's walk downtown, get your things and walk back.
Speaker:And we came back.
Speaker:He, I'm like, good, right?
Speaker:He's like, yeah, that's fun, . You may never call me again.
Speaker:But um, so I just injected in a way that it's good for us, it's gonna save
Speaker:money and one of those two things work.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Do you, do you have clients or colleagues that are sometimes come back to and.
Speaker:They've taken this and carried it forward and they're instigating it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So the guy that I was just talking about, I mean, I've been, we've
Speaker:been friends for a long time and um, so he now is doing the same thing.
Speaker:He likes to hike.
Speaker:He doesn't like to huff and walk long distance.
Speaker:He likes to, to hike.
Speaker:But I think that a lot of people are, are finding that because, It is
Speaker:really just doing something that we probably all did during the time that
Speaker:we couldn't be so close to each other.
Speaker:Um, you know, depending where you are.
Speaker:Some places I was, we were pretty locked down here, and so people
Speaker:would walk and talk, right?
Speaker:Because anytime you had a chance to get out and walk, so people were doing
Speaker:it with their earbuds in, um, and so why not do it with somebody, right?
Speaker:Because I think it also helps in terms of that, you know, we're trying
Speaker:to recover from being lonely for a.
Speaker:I'm quite interested, I would like to ask you a question about note taking because,
Speaker:uh, I did a couple of times, uh, , walking talk, uh, with, , I Birds, but I feel that
Speaker:I am very, uh, I need to be very focused and, uh, and I take a lot of notes.
Speaker:So question is how do you take notes of what is important during the meeting?
Speaker:Uh, when you walk and talk with.
Speaker:and more generally.
Speaker:Uh, something that is really, and I'm really looking for an answer for that, is
Speaker:I do a lot of running and, uh, when I run I have lots of ideas popping in my head.
Speaker:, but the problem is that, you know, when you run, you and I am low and I want to
Speaker:stop it to, you know, stop and take notes.
Speaker:And then what It gets me very frustrated is that the end of a.
Speaker:I forget most of my ideas.
Speaker:I mean, I remember a couple of ideas, but I cannot remember all
Speaker:the details of the ideas I got, and I think it's such a waste.
Speaker:So I'm wondering if you, you have any tips to share?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So, um, you know, in my, in my life, I'm a top performance trainer, so
Speaker:look, I'm like, oh, I got that one.
Speaker:That's so great.
Speaker:So when, I mean, if I'm walking and talking to somebody, so I tell them,
Speaker:so I mean I, obviously, I'm using my.
Speaker:So I use my cell phone for everything.
Speaker:I'm on my cell phone right now.
Speaker:Um, so when I, uh, walk and talk, if I'm talking to someone, so say I'm
Speaker:talking to Jen and we're having a conversation and that kind of thing,
Speaker:I'll say, um, Jen, so as we're talking, I'll say, Jen, that's a really great
Speaker:note that I want to or remember later.
Speaker:Can you just text me that and I'll get her to text?
Speaker:Say text me.
Speaker:Um, Turkey rolls oil.
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:She needs to just send, send me those three words so she may not be walking and.
Speaker:But if so, she's not, or she's at her desk or whatever, she will say Turkey rose oil.
Speaker:And I'll do that a couple of times through the conversation and that will prompt me.
Speaker:But I'm a prompter.
Speaker:You may have to get them to write more than that, but if we were talking about
Speaker:buying rose oil from Turkey or doing an article on it or whatever, then those
Speaker:three words are gonna prompt me later and she's gonna text me while we're talking.
Speaker:Now, here's my concept of running and I, you know, am an
Speaker:officially, um, I'm a runner as.
Speaker:I'm doing a large event, which is walking, cuz it's eight marathons in a row.
Speaker:But, um, I'm walking so, um, if you're running, I have two co I have two things
Speaker:that I wanna say about that for me.
Speaker:If you are running, it's a great time to get a lot of ideas and roll
Speaker:things through your head because that running is like meditating.
Speaker:It's like, yeah, journaling.
Speaker:It's processing.
Speaker:It's just processing creative ideas.
Speaker:And I think it's great that all these ideas come to you.
Speaker:You can literally do one or two things.
Speaker:Is one is just know that those are not being put to waste.
Speaker:That these creative ideas that are coming and flowing are meant to come and flow.
Speaker:You're doing something that's encouraging that creativity.
Speaker:You're giving your brain a break.
Speaker:and by giving your brain, I teach brain health, so, so you give brain a break.
Speaker:And so it is allowing all this creativity.
Speaker:So don't look at it as wasting.
Speaker:Look at it as releasing and conceptualizing and anything that you're
Speaker:supposed to remember, you'll hold onto.
Speaker:If there's something that comes to you that's like, oh my gosh, that's like the
Speaker:marketing plan of a lifetime, or I need to remember that, and you really feel
Speaker:that you might lose it at the end and.
Speaker:I have you, you have an audio section in your phone.
Speaker:You can audio yourself.
Speaker:I don't know if you guys text yourself, but I WhatsApp myself.
Speaker:I text myself, and if you don't text yourself, Well go make yourself a text.
Speaker:You literally put whatever name you want, you know what I mean?
Speaker:I put Ireland girl cuz I literally like Ireland and I put my phone number and
Speaker:I literally will go and I will audio message myself or I'll text myself.
Speaker:So if there's something like earth shattering and you're like, oh
Speaker:my gosh, I gotta remember that.
Speaker:It's okay to stop.
Speaker:It doesn't really stop your flow.
Speaker:You actually will be able to let that go because if you're trying
Speaker:to hold onto things, your brain is trying to remember to remember.
Speaker:So then just let it go and then just audio yourself in your notes section
Speaker:or microphone yourself in your notes section or, or text yourself
Speaker:two words and you'll jog it, right?
Speaker:Oh, there you go.
Speaker:You'll jog your memory by two words, by texting to yourself if
Speaker:something is earth shattering.
Speaker:So that's my advice.
Speaker:Good for you for running.
Speaker:Like, Woohoo.
Speaker:Good for you.
Speaker:Yeah, but I, I like it.
Speaker:It's like seeing it as a gift, the idea is meant to come, and it's a way
Speaker:to boost and separate the creativity.
Speaker:So That's brilliant.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:And leaky, I'll toss in one eye.
Speaker:One I use is called brain toss.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:I'm sort of showing my, I don't know if you can see my screen, but it's a great
Speaker:little app that you just like, can.
Speaker:While you, while you're running, walking, hiking, and like, just send yourself
Speaker:a little voice memo kind of thing.
Speaker:It keeps 'em all organized from the sweet little fashion.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think I should, I should just send myself more messages if I need that.
Speaker:I need that tickler later.
Speaker:Otherwise, I feel like I lost , all that stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Totally.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:. Good stuff.
Speaker:Christina, do you have a question?
Speaker:Uh, yeah, I, uh, I think I, I, yeah, I do.
Speaker:What do you have time to just slow down and.
Speaker:Think of nothing while you are running or walking, just meditate in that movement.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I mean, yeah, for me, I, for me, I do a lot of, um,
Speaker:fast-paced walking predominantly.
Speaker:And so, um, I feel like what I was just sharing for me, when I walk, I
Speaker:have a lot of conversation with myself.
Speaker:You know, I look at it as decompression.
Speaker:Um, so I do a lot of walking.
Speaker:It is a really creative time for me.
Speaker:I literally will talk things out.
Speaker:It's like, it's, you know, it's the best free therapist ever.
Speaker:So you're walking and you're talking and you're, you know, conceptualizing.
Speaker:And things may come like we just finished talking about, but also
Speaker:things may go, I mean, I think it's a very contemplative time.
Speaker:When I'm journaling.
Speaker:I'm very journaling.
Speaker:When I'm meditating, I'm very meditating.
Speaker:Meditating.
Speaker:I tend to just like let go and see what comes.
Speaker:But when I'm walking, I think that like we were just sharing really great ideas can
Speaker:come to it or I can come to conclusions of things because when I walk, I'm a
Speaker:big music fan, I'll put music in and I'll really get deep into the music.
Speaker:I'll change my state, you know, um, I'll change my state.
Speaker:I do a lot of that in between meetings.
Speaker:I throw like a three minute song and change by state.
Speaker:Um, but when I go to, when I'm walking, I really go.
Speaker:It's very intentional.
Speaker:It's either relaxing, I'm listening to music, I need to work something out.
Speaker:Or if I'm having a meeting with somebody, I'm obviously having
Speaker:a meeting with somebody and it actually is, it's a way more focused
Speaker:meeting than I was in my desk.
Speaker:It is a way more focused meeting because I'm looking at scenery,
Speaker:but it's not my scenery.
Speaker:. Like, that's not my sunshine, it's not my water.
Speaker:But when I'm sitting at my desk, I'm like, oh, there's a picture of Janice Joplin.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:There's a picture of my kids.
Speaker:Oh, there's papers on my desk that tell me that I got other
Speaker:things that I gotta go to.
Speaker:But when I'm walking and talking with somebody, I'm, I'm super present because
Speaker:there's nothing else ticking, you know, other than this great, beautiful view.
Speaker:So I can, I think I am way more attentive, actually.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Brian, how's a.
Speaker:Deborah, you just reminded me of something.
Speaker:I know that there's some science around when, when walking desks and standing
Speaker:to sort of treadmill desks and standing desks first were coming out in the market.
Speaker:Um, there was a series of sort of like studies done around it,
Speaker:people's efficiency, their accuracy, their retention, you know, those
Speaker:kind of, the sort of like skillsets and performances around whether
Speaker:they're standing or walking.
Speaker:Now, I haven't followed it closely.
Speaker:You may.
Speaker:I know that there were some issues with accuracy and precision when on a
Speaker:walking desk because like it uses part of your brain to be walking and so
Speaker:certain kind of tasks, your accuracy was reduced in producing something.
Speaker:But I know that like creative thinking, it like boosted and productivity,
Speaker:there were like pros and cons each way.
Speaker:Any any feedback or knowledge from sort of like the medical
Speaker:literature as it were around.
Speaker:So from a brain perspective, in terms of efficiency, um, I'm more versed in mm-hmm.
Speaker:, um, I was actually just teaching this last night.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:the difference between writing, the difference between writing and typing.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:The difference between writing and typing your retention level is, you
Speaker:know, well beyond 90% when you're writing and if you're typing.
Speaker:And, and for those listening Deborah's doing the, like the, the
Speaker:hand motion for like handwriting.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So yes, we're, we're handwriting the retention is over 90%.
Speaker:Even if it's something where, like, say you're watching a podcast
Speaker:and you're taking notes and you never read those notes again.
Speaker:Um, your retention is higher than someone who is typing.
Speaker:Like, you know, when you, you know, you take your computer into, you
Speaker:know, your university class and you're typing away as the prof is talking.
Speaker:You will need to read those notes over and over again to have that
Speaker:same retention rate compared to someone who actually wrote it.
Speaker:So if you're walking and talking, that's very, that's very different.
Speaker:You don't have the chance to write that.
Speaker:Um, so, you know, being prompted, um, to that meeting, you know, for me I think
Speaker:it's all about level of importance.
Speaker:Cuz people will say, I did this last night as well.
Speaker:People will say, you're not supposed to do more than one thing at once.
Speaker:And I'm like, I'm gonna challenge.
Speaker:because you do, you don't do something, you know, you can do something and be
Speaker:very focused, but you can also do, you can also multitask and have the same, um,
Speaker:the same level of, I don't know, results depending on the level of importance.
Speaker:So look, if I am, if, if I'm babysitting and watching a child, I'm like watching a.
Speaker:, you know what I mean?
Speaker:Like if that kid's walking for its first time, I'm 100% there.
Speaker:I'm not on a call, I'm not doing these other things because the
Speaker:level of importance is very high.
Speaker:They might fall down.
Speaker:But if I am listening to a show or listening to a training or talking to
Speaker:somebody about, uh, a marketing idea, and making dinner at the same time
Speaker:as the dishes are on and I'm throwing laundry in and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:I'm doing all of those at pretty maximum capacity because the level of
Speaker:importance of the three or four things that I'm doing, art is low, right?
Speaker:So I think if you were going to have a meeting that was very important that
Speaker:you needed to be attentive for, then maybe you're not standing for that.
Speaker:, you know, maybe you're sitting and you're focused and you're really looking and
Speaker:you don't have other things on your desk, and it's a very important meeting, so you
Speaker:put yourself in an important position.
Speaker:But in between meetings, for me, I do a lot of shifting my body.
Speaker:Like I literally will.
Speaker:I'm a, like, for me, I use music for many different things.
Speaker:Um, I literally will go listen to a song or I have a, one of those
Speaker:vibration machines at my house.
Speaker:And I, you know, in, in 10 minutes, it equals an hour.
Speaker:I will stand on there and listen to music in between, you know, big
Speaker:meetings because it just clears my head.
Speaker:Just like I'm on this podcast right now, I'm sitting on a stool because
Speaker:I know from a posture standpoint, I'm way more attentive and I'm way
Speaker:more focused because I'm standing than sitting at a desk and take it.
Speaker:So I've taken away, I need to invite people and just tell them we're just gonna
Speaker:add another layer into our meeting, and I'm taking away this like thinking about.
Speaker:The kind of meeting we're having and what I need out of it.
Speaker:Do I need to be taking notes or can do I need my brain to sort of be a little
Speaker:bit more free flowing and free thinking?
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:Great stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I think, you know, if I'm meeting with my C F O, like if I'm meeting
Speaker:with my C F O and I need to make some decisions, cha, unless it's a creative
Speaker:meeting, unless I really need to, like, I need to get out and just have,
Speaker:just be focusing on these numbers.
Speaker:If I need to be writing numbers and making decisions, I mean, I need
Speaker:to ask myself where's where, what state is better for me to be in?
Speaker:If I need to be writing numbers and that kind of thing.
Speaker:Um, then maybe I need to be sitting at a desk.
Speaker:But for me, in my personality, um, I, because I'm so much more focused when
Speaker:I'm walking, I can actually, I hear it.
Speaker:I, it's almost like I hear it from a different part of my brain,
Speaker:and I can make those decision.
Speaker:and there's, there's times where I need to make decisions in the moment because
Speaker:she needs to know that from a number standpoint, and then I can let it go.
Speaker:Like I don't need to revisit it.
Speaker:I know that it's handled.
Speaker:Um, you know, and you hear things different when you're walking.
Speaker:So recently I've been, I'm hiring for my company and, um,
Speaker:I can sit across from somebody.
Speaker:I just did a second interview where I sat across from someone yesterday, you know,
Speaker:with the first time I did it by Zoom.
Speaker:Completely different experience, obviously, but sometimes if you're
Speaker:listening to somebody, and you can't see them and you're walking,
Speaker:you hear different things.
Speaker:You get a different sense of who they are there.
Speaker:There hasn't really been anyone that I've asked that has ability to, I mean,
Speaker:you know, like right now, for example, we're all in different parts of the
Speaker:world, so that really wouldn't work.
Speaker:There's no one that's ever really been annoyed when I'm walking and talking.
Speaker:So they may or may not be with.
Speaker:. But if you're in a place that's super windy, like I had a meeting yesterday
Speaker:and this guy was hiking and I could hear wind, I could hear his foot,
Speaker:you know, uh, you know, footprint.
Speaker:He's like, wow, I can't believe you can hear all that.
Speaker:Um, so you know, if you're gonna be in a situation like that, you need to be cuz
Speaker:it's distracting to the other person.
Speaker:Like, I found it really distracting, but I appreciated it.
Speaker:So I hung in there anyways.
Speaker:And the level of importance of that call was five outta 10.
Speaker:You know, we weren't making, we weren't making major decisions.
Speaker:So if someone can, it's actually they're kind of like,
Speaker:that's cool, like that's cool.
Speaker:And I'm like, let's go swimming.
Speaker:Honestly, the content of conversation can be so much better because your
Speaker:guards down and you're not just that next meeting in their book.
Speaker:You're like, oh my gosh, they so they made effort.
Speaker:They're gonna come swim.
Speaker:It's gonna be fun.
Speaker:It's chilled, it's relaxed.
Speaker:I think you can make as bet you you can even make better, you know, business deal.
Speaker:And close really big accounts that way, like you can close as many deals in a hot
Speaker:tub as you can in a, you know, in a bar.
Speaker:Like you really can because your guard is down.
Speaker:Um, they're seeing a side of you, you're seeing a side of them.
Speaker:They're like, this is super cool.
Speaker:It's innovative.
Speaker:It's out of the box.
Speaker:It makes for a really great creative conversation.
Speaker:They're like, wow, I've never really thought of doing this before.
Speaker:I'm not gonna ask everybody to swim.
Speaker:Um, that I, you know, have, you know, the first time on a call.
Speaker:But just like, oh, you live in my neighborhood.
Speaker:Let's go for a.
Speaker:, you know, and you might, uh, end up at a cafe or something like that.
Speaker:But, um, it is the level of importance.
Speaker:But I haven't had anyone say like, there's something wrong with you.
Speaker:Um, and I don't say, Hey, this is a great thing to do from a
Speaker:carbon, you know, footprint.
Speaker:Unless they're really into carbon footprint.
Speaker:Unless they're like, Hey, this is your, let's go save the environment today.
Speaker:You know, just like my kids, my, my daughter's 30 and my son's 19.
Speaker:And to this day, if I see like something plugged in or what, I'm
Speaker:like, you're, if they're like, I.
Speaker:I'm killing a polar bear.
Speaker:I'll unplug it.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:. So they're like, I used to say them.
Speaker:That's killing polar bears.
Speaker:I mean, because they were like, you know, nine, they could put
Speaker:that together conceptually, right?
Speaker:I'm like, unplug that.
Speaker:You're killing a polar bear.
Speaker:They're like, okay, okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So you know, my daughter at 30 will still laugh about that now.
Speaker:So I just think it's all how you approach somebody.
Speaker:I know Ola Bane, you can't hear Deborah can.
Speaker:Um, but do you have a question from what you have heard or
Speaker:if you've heard anything?
Speaker:Uh, I, I think it's somewhat related to, um, what, what Brian asked.
Speaker:Um, as, as far as like the different kind of tasks that are possible when
Speaker:you are like walking and talking.
Speaker:I mean, are there cases where you meet people that don't
Speaker:want to do that with you?
Speaker:Um, right.
Speaker:Cause.
Speaker:Sometimes, like if you're not here, and I mean if we can have a proper in quote
Speaker:conversation, um, you know, maybe let's do that when you're able to, you know,
Speaker:sit or, or you're able to like, maybe pay attention to me, maybe video call
Speaker:or something other people that really just don't wanna do that, um, with you.
Speaker:So that, that would be my question.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Well, first of all, the content of the relationship is.
Speaker:because when you are being vulnerable, you know, and walking with someone
Speaker:may not seem vulnerable, but it's one of your personal activities.
Speaker:Like, you know, you personally walk or you swim or you tennis or you
Speaker:squash or you this or you that.
Speaker:That's where you are.
Speaker:You right?
Speaker:That's where you are, you.
Speaker:And so someone's sticking, you know, instead of, you know, you know, not
Speaker:wearing makeup and sticking on a to or, you know, walking with an umbrella.
Speaker:It's a more of a vulnerable, uh, position.
Speaker:And so I think that it makes the relationship.
Speaker:. I also think it brings a level of fun and I think that we are all pretty
Speaker:well conscious or cognitive of the fact that it's better than driving.
Speaker:Um, and even when you say, Hey, like we don't need to go to another
Speaker:restaurant and sit there and do the restaurant thing, let's go do this.
Speaker:Um, and then the other thing is you start to get known for that.
Speaker:So walking.
Speaker:and like I mentioned, you know, myself and my girlfriend were doing
Speaker:eight and a half marathons in eight days, walking across Ireland to
Speaker:raise money for the music industry.
Speaker:And it's a big, it's a big event.
Speaker:Obviously , but no one's surprised that I'm walking now.
Speaker:We could go do a festival.
Speaker:I mean, it's like, it's a big deal actually, that's
Speaker:why I was in New York, Ryan.
Speaker:I didn't know it then.
Speaker:So it was there.
Speaker:Talking to Alicia Keys organization, we're gonna support their global impact
Speaker:on women in music and all this cool stuff, and we're gonna do it through walking.
Speaker:because, and so you wanna talk about working and walking at the same time?
Speaker:We'll be interviewing people, will be walking and interviewing us.
Speaker:Um, we'll be doing like probably podcasts talking.
Speaker:We're going to be showing and showcasing everything that you can do.
Speaker:Walking, we're gonna be listening to music.
Speaker:We'll be doing, someone will probably do a social media.
Speaker:I'm like, I'm listening to like my favorite band right now, walking.
Speaker:So it's a walking cause to raise awareness for something
Speaker:that may not be interrelated.
Speaker:When you think of music, do you think of walking?
Speaker:No, you do not.
Speaker:You might think of clubs, you might think of advance and we could
Speaker:very well have gone to Ireland and done this big huge concert, right?
Speaker:And had it over the course of a weekend or done a festival or
Speaker:something like that, but instead we're huffing ourselves and we're we.
Speaker:Last marathon I did was, uh, 18 years ago, you know, so this is kind of funky.
Speaker:And so just making people aware and coming out and hopefully cheering on the streets
Speaker:and walk, walk with us a little bit today.
Speaker:If you wanna walk with us and have this conversation and
Speaker:Oh, you wanna do an interview?
Speaker:Well, you better put your running shoes on because you can
Speaker:interview me as we're walking.
Speaker:So I think that, um, it's not, so people are like, oh, of course she is.
Speaker:Like, of course she is, because they know me to walk in the.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It'd be very interesting.
Speaker:It's all coming together.
Speaker:So follow us.
Speaker:Follow the journey.
Speaker:I mean, can I do a plug for it?
Speaker:It's a fundraiser you can go to.
Speaker:They did it tour ca, and you can watch the process.
Speaker:People can donate on there towards the event.
Speaker:Um, yeah, cuz music is such a beautiful healer.
Speaker:And if you talk about walking, you talk about exercising.
Speaker:I think exercising and music go hand in hand.
Speaker:Mosts people listen to music and it helps.
Speaker:Like, it just, it just helps.
Speaker:It, it, you know, I think music heals incredibly so anyone wants
Speaker:to sponsor or they want us to talk about their, you know, watches or
Speaker:they wanna, you know, whatever.
Speaker:Then we'll do that for people.
Speaker:Or we'll walk a marathon in someone's name or a mile in someone's name.
Speaker:, that's another great thing.
Speaker:People can donate a gift.
Speaker:Uh, we're gonna walk this marathon in their name or a mile or this day
Speaker:or whatever, in lieu of in name ups.
Speaker:Instead of giving someone a Valentine's gift or a St.
Speaker:Patrick's Day gift or a Christmas gift, if this person's really, you know,
Speaker:loves the environment or things that this walking thing is kind of cool,
Speaker:so we can give them a gift of this mile that we've walked in their name.
Speaker:It's interesting that, that you just compared, like, we could have raised
Speaker:this money doing a big concert, but now if we pause and think about like
Speaker:the environmental impact of going and doing that huge concert, like it's
Speaker:probably a pretty big impact and it, it might raise the same or more funds
Speaker:versus this eight marathons in eight days, which by golly, good luck.
Speaker:Wish you the nest.
Speaker:although It's funny, my kids and I, we just got watches
Speaker:and we were just tracking.
Speaker:We just walked a marathon over three days, not in one day,
Speaker:and not eight of them in a row.
Speaker:And we were just excited for having done that.
Speaker:, so I, I think it is an exciting thing, but I love that there's this, like
Speaker:the walking brings, it's a kind of activity that you can do that the impact
Speaker:is, is only positive, not negative.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:leaky.
Speaker:You had a question,
Speaker:? Um, I guess that you will, you
Speaker:start working, you had very, um, traditional meetings with people and
Speaker:sitting at the table and talking.
Speaker:Was it a, a moment where you say, okay, um, I'll stop doing it.
Speaker:And I was going to ask you, what are the, um, meetings or
Speaker:kind of interviews you don't do?
Speaker:, obviously podcast is one of them.
Speaker:Um, because we're standing or sitting and, um, so question
Speaker:why you cannot do podcasts?
Speaker:, while.
Speaker:and um, other questions was this, this moment in your life, it's like, okay,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to stop doing it.
Speaker:, before you people know you for that, because on the back of of my mind
Speaker:is okay, if I start doing it, would I have to tell the world, you know,
Speaker:Um, okay, so I'm gonna answer this with a number of questions in there.
Speaker:So, um, for me, um, in terms of my podcast, because it's video
Speaker:and it's audio, , it would be very difficult to do that podcast walking.
Speaker:Now here's a great idea.
Speaker:One of you guys can go start one and have people listening.
Speaker:You'd have to have really good, uh, noise block up, cuz when you're
Speaker:walking you can hear the wind.
Speaker:You can hear, like, I was sharing a boat, listening to this guy
Speaker:walk yesterday and having this meeting, and he was wearing earbuds.
Speaker:So you'd have to have that noise, you know, that noise destruction.
Speaker:But if you were doing a walking uh, podcast, you could, and people
Speaker:could, you know, listen to that.
Speaker:But you'd have to figure that part out.
Speaker:The, the video part of it, cuz you'd be holding it like this.
Speaker:I do a lot of my podcasts on my phone.
Speaker:I know people do, you know, the microphone on phones are just as good these days.
Speaker:Um, so that's that question.
Speaker:Was there a moment?
Speaker:I think for me, um, the decision to go into having meetings, being as
Speaker:physical as possible, really just came from probably my own self-serving.
Speaker:I think from a mental health standpoint, it's important to get out.
Speaker:So mentally I think it's important to get out for those of us that are at home.
Speaker:And then that really doubled down, right?
Speaker:So one third of my year, um, prior, um, to that for nine years was, you know,
Speaker:I'd be in Australia opening that country.
Speaker:I'd be in Ireland opening that country.
Speaker:And so I was at different.
Speaker:I did have to take a plane, but when I got there, I tried to make the meetings
Speaker:as creative and as innovative as possible.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so instead of, you know, renting out a a hotel room, we'd do it in someone,
Speaker:we'd do a meeting in someone's home, we'd all gather in someone's home and
Speaker:make that home the event cuz it was.
Speaker:It's, it saved some, right?
Speaker:It saved some, but for me, I think it was probably self-serving in
Speaker:that, you know, this isn't doing my body any good sitting here.
Speaker:It's not doing my brain good sitting here.
Speaker:And there's people I know that if I, if I need to exercise, they
Speaker:need to exercise, so let's get out.
Speaker:And conceptually it was kind of strange in the beginning, but I'm like, I
Speaker:really did go that walk and talk and I'm like, look, I need to get out.
Speaker:So it was probably self-serving for me in the fact that I'm staring
Speaker:at these walls I've been in.
Speaker:I'm used to being, you know, out on the road one third of the year.
Speaker:So that was probably really how it started.
Speaker:And then, and I think that was, it was for my own health and my own mental health.
Speaker:Well, So did I sit here and go, it's gonna be a, you know, did I do it for
Speaker:Carbon Impact as the number one thing?
Speaker:No, but it made perfect sense to not walk to a restaurant or to not walk
Speaker:to here and just let's walk longer.
Speaker:I think that was it.
Speaker:We're not just gonna go for a 10 minute walk or 15 minute walk.
Speaker:We're gonna walk the seawall.
Speaker:, you know, we're gonna go for an hour walk, we're gonna go for, you know,
Speaker:when it's sky came, we're on Sunday.
Speaker:I'm like, we're not walking for 10 minutes.
Speaker:We're walking for 40 minutes.
Speaker:You need to go shopping.
Speaker:Let's go walk to shopping and let's walk back and have that experience.
Speaker:Because he literally said, well, why don't I just meet you?
Speaker:Like, I'll just drive to the store.
Speaker:I go, why don't you just come here?
Speaker:And we walk to the store and we walk back.
Speaker:He's like, huh, okay.
Speaker:You know, I mean, he wasn't thrilled, but I just didn't
Speaker:really pay attention to not that.
Speaker:Um, and.
Speaker:I kind of didn't let him off the hook.
Speaker:So, um, so I hope that answers your question, but at first it was really
Speaker:motivating around getting our body and our, my, my brain healthier.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It, it's like a lot of things we do for the planet.
Speaker:It doesn't start necessarily start with, you know, saving the planet
Speaker:or doing something good for the environment, but it starts from within,
Speaker:from serving your own personal needs.
Speaker:One of personal needs.
Speaker:Well, and, and I think it's the little stuff, right?
Speaker:It's the little stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's like me telling my daughter, unplug your flat.
Speaker:It's like, you know, me telling my son, like, we don't need to leave
Speaker:that lamp plugged in all night.
Speaker:We don't need, and that was where the Polar Bear thing came in.
Speaker:And honestly, it worked for one kid, so I just kept it for the
Speaker:other, my kids were 10 years apart.
Speaker:So they've all heard about the polar bears.
Speaker:Um, I think it's about, you know, watching different movies, right?
Speaker:I mean, when cell phones came out, and that's my daughter, she's 30 to this
Speaker:day, she thought, oh my gosh, I took her to a movie about, you know, the damage
Speaker:of , the damage of cell phones, right?
Speaker:And so I think it's like that little piece of education or that little movement, or.
Speaker:You know, having the different recycling bins on Bel, like, it's all that little
Speaker:stuff that adds up to high level success.
Speaker:I mean, it's like that in business.
Speaker:Why would it not be like that for the environment?
Speaker:So it's a concept, it's just conceptually, why wouldn't it be?
Speaker:And so when you, when you start to do this for your health, it.
Speaker:Layers, your meetings, you get so much more done.
Speaker:Your efficiency is higher.
Speaker:It's less impact on the environment.
Speaker:Let's just go walk.
Speaker:Why do we need to?
Speaker:And then people start to get it on whatever level they get it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's, it's like for me, when I'm, I'm training for a race, I, yeah.
Speaker:Um, I sometimes say, okay, I run to your place or I'll run to you.
Speaker:I arrive all dress and sweat, but I'm focused so.
Speaker:I think also it, it, I, I, I think you answered the question I was gonna ask,
Speaker:but I was thinking about health and and wellness because that indirectly
Speaker:has an impact on the environment.
Speaker:You know, if we're as healthy as we possibly can be, we stay
Speaker:out of the healthcare system.
Speaker:, um, you know, there's just, there's just, uh, things, it's a ripple.
Speaker:, um, and mental wellness, uh, you know, there's, there's so much to be said Yeah.
Speaker:For, for doing that.
Speaker:Um, even if it did start off as doing something for yourself,
Speaker:nothing wrong with that really.
Speaker:Um, because if we can be the best, healthiest humans we can possibly be,
Speaker:then that's serving the planet also.
Speaker:. Uh, I, I totally believe in that, but, uh, but it's interesting, the ripple effect.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I tell people, and I was, you know, on as much as I can about it, but I was
Speaker:telling people the other day, so when it comes to health and wellness, doing
Speaker:everything you can for your brain and your body and what have you, and I think if
Speaker:people know you to be that person, it's a great lean in doing something like this.
Speaker:It's like no one is, well, we're all surprised since myself included, I
Speaker:thought I was doing one marathon.
Speaker:I've never, you know, eight and a half marathons is a little.
Speaker:But, um, people aren't surprised that I'm walking because they know me to
Speaker:be a health and wellness advocate.
Speaker:And this is what I tell people every day, every day.
Speaker:It's like you have one piece of real estate, honestly, you have one piece
Speaker:of real estate and it's your body.
Speaker:And, um, you know, I tell people like, oh, I can't, you know, do this or I
Speaker:can't do that, or I can't do vitamins, or I can't do massage for myself, or
Speaker:I can't go for a rod, or I can't tell.
Speaker:I'm like, but you can go to winners and spend 50 bucks on pillows.
Speaker:So, yeah, you.
Speaker:Yeah, you can go spend 50 bucks on nutraceuticals.
Speaker:Go get yourself a MA massage.
Speaker:Go do, like, this is one piece of real estate and that's all you get.
Speaker:So let's walk, let's do this.
Speaker:And you tell people that you're like, they're like, I got pillows from winners,
Speaker:I got . I mean, I, I bought that stuff.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:So they're like the, so okay, you've guilted people into
Speaker:going for a walk, whatever.
Speaker:But just tell people you are the only piece of real estate you own serious.
Speaker:and how well are you gonna take care of that piece of real estate?
Speaker:So throw your running shoes on, sweetheart, and let's go.
Speaker:You know, it's like we have, we have one planet too.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:. Yeah.
Speaker:You got one planet.
Speaker:You have one planet.
Speaker:People really get that.
Speaker:You guys are on the same page.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well this has been really great.
Speaker:Does anyone have any, any last questions?
Speaker:I'm just looking at the time.
Speaker:Uh, anybody have last question for.
Speaker:Deborah, I would turn over to you.
Speaker:What's, you know, we got a great listenership that is here to hear
Speaker:conversations, just sort of accessing normal people, talking about how they're
Speaker:making a difference in the world.
Speaker:Any other words of advice or something that's inspiring you lately about
Speaker:making the world a better place?
Speaker:Yeah, well, outside of the thing in Ireland, this is what I, this is the
Speaker:advice that I'd say to everybody is just that last piece about you are
Speaker:the most important, like you are the most important, and that we all set
Speaker:precedents, you know, We all know Noah, the power of media as well.
Speaker:So you guys are on here for a reason because you are on other people's
Speaker:audiences or you're talking, and so most people have one, one place
Speaker:of social platform, whether it's LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram
Speaker:or TikTok or whatever you're doing.
Speaker:But honestly, just from, just from this conversation, taking this
Speaker:concept, this, this is a new concept for people, this Mary woman mean.
Speaker:Maybe we should get some t-shirts, hashtag walk and talk.
Speaker:I mean, you know, but maybe make me do, make, make a new hashtag.
Speaker:Don't gimme another business idea to do, please, . But I'll, I'll support you.
Speaker:I'll support you.
Speaker:I'll wear the t-shirt.
Speaker:I'll buy the t-shirt.
Speaker:You know, let's make the journal, you know, sell it.
Speaker:Um, but if you actually are walking and talking or swimming and busying,
Speaker:oh, swimming biz, walk and talk.
Speaker:Okay, Brian, really, thank you.
Speaker:So, but if you do that, take pictures of yourself, , take a picture of yourself.
Speaker:Hey, I'm at the gym today with one of my best business clients, and by the
Speaker:end, by the end of this treadmill, We're glad to have discovered his, you
Speaker:know, corporate logo or like, start talking, oh, someone had a ah moment.
Speaker:Must be be the one that's running, getting all the ideas.
Speaker:Someone's gonna call me with a business, don't do it.
Speaker:Um, you know, I do summits.
Speaker:I'll talk about it on the summit, but if you actually talk
Speaker:about it, , but show about it.
Speaker:Like, show about it.
Speaker:It um, it's incredible the power of media.
Speaker:I literally just had a meeting with my public relations and in one year
Speaker:we've been picked up 8 million times.
Speaker:So if, if, if 10 of those, you know, if, if like 10,000
Speaker:of those who've been a shot.
Speaker:And so I'll do the same thing, like I'll take on my own challenge because I tend
Speaker:to do these meetings and I don't think about that unless it's with a galp.
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker:Having a walk today.
Speaker:But I think if we put in the.
Speaker:You know, you know, swimming biz walk and talk or what it is that you talked about.
Speaker:I think it's a movement that would get kicked up.
Speaker:Brian, I think you should be the c e o.
Speaker:Jen.
Speaker:Take over marketing and I'll, I'll, I'll do the media on it, but, um,
Speaker:I think it's just about really telling people that's why you're
Speaker:walking, that's why you're swimming, that's why you're playing tennis.
Speaker:You know, we all know golf in business, right?
Speaker:We all know golf in business.
Speaker:Let's go do golf in, so golf has this really sexy.
Speaker:Um, energy around it because a lot of money and deals close on the golf course.
Speaker:So take that concept and apply it to, and hashtag and hashtag at
Speaker:carbon sessions while we're at it.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Perfect sessions.
Speaker:Carbon sessions.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Well, yep.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:This has been, uh, great and fun and informative and uh, and delightful.
Speaker:Yeah, thanks.
Speaker:Thank you, Debra.
Speaker:You too.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:It's been so great to meet you guys.
Speaker:Who knew, right?
Speaker:Who knew that something that you were just doing because
Speaker:would turn into a conversation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's okay.
Speaker:Great.
Speaker:So you got to Dan of work.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:You've been listening to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with carbon
Speaker:conversations for every day with everyone from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:We'd love you to join the Carbon sessions so you too can share your
Speaker:perspectives from wherever you.
Speaker:This is a great way for our community to learn from your ideas and
Speaker:experiences, connect and take action.
Speaker:If you want to add your voice to the conversation, go to the carbon
Speaker:almanac.org/podcast and sign up to be part of a future episode.
Speaker:This podcast is also part of the Carbon Almanac Network.
Speaker:For more information to sign up for the emails, to join the movement, and to
Speaker:order your copy of the Carbon Alman.
Speaker:Go to the carbon almanac.org.
Speaker:Be sure to subscribe and join us here again, as together
