Apple Reasons Steve Jobs had many problems to solve. His way of doing this is supported by science and recommended to everyone today.
Did Steve Jobs walk away from problems? Yes, he went for a walk. His way of dealing with stubborn questions that he couldn’t solve quickly was not to stubbornly chew on them forever. Instead, he would go for a walk alone or with someone he trusted, as his biographer Walter Isaacson described in the biography published in 2011.
Jonathan Ivy also confirmed this as a long-time companion of Jobs at Apple to WSJ Magazine. Ivy was the chief designer at Apple for many years before leaving the company in 2019.
Variety relaxes the brain
How does a walk help in solving problems? According to neuroscientist Mithu Storoni in his book Hyper: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work
or as explained in the English-language podcast on hbr.org, Steve Jobs acted instinctively correctly here.
Walking has not only positive physical effects on your body, but it also relaxes the brain as it stimulates new thoughts through unordered external stimuli. Science calls this Divergent Thinking
. You simply break out of the cognitive rut that the problem belongs to and think about it anew.
Getting your circulation going, breathing in fresher air than indoors, and having the sun literally shining on your mood at least during the day is a helpful side aspect.
Should I just walk around to come up with ideas? No, that would be exaggerated and impractical. But it helps to adhere to a general rule:
If you think about something for 10 minutes but aren’t making any progress, just going in circles and finding no solution, then get up. Go for a relaxed walk alone or with someone who does you good, either on the street or preferably in a park or garden. Chat a bit or simply let your thoughts wander. The duration can vary, but it should feel like a break, so it shouldn’t just be a rushed 5-minute walk.
Steve Jobs is not only known for solving problems unconventionally but also for having a good sense of the topics of tomorrow. He spoke at a conference about the first approaches to the use of Artificial Intelligence and how it might change or threaten the world: Steve Jobs’ visionary speech about Artificial Intelligence 40 years ago – The Apple co-founder foresaw our problems
