The Daily Bones

TAG | Productivity

Apr/10

27

Why I don’t Walk Crosstown: The Influence of Shorter Steps

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I’ve lived in New York City for about 2 years now. I walk everywhere I go for the most part, mainly because I’ve come to realize the time spent waiting for a bus or train ends up being quite close to the time it would have taken for me to walk most places (within reason, of course, usually < 2 miles). One exception: I never walk crosstown.

The walk from my apartment to the United Nations Secretariat building, where I work at the moment, is 25 city blocks or roughly 1.5 miles. I make this walk probably 60-70% of the days I go there. The distance from my apartment to 8th Avenue is 1.5 miles. I’ve walked this twice.

It just occurred to me why. NYC Street blocks are on average 1/16 of a mile, so they’re incredibly short. NYC Avenues are spaced (approximately) 1/4 apart, usually 3-4 times the distance of a city block (source). When you walk north-south, it feels like you’re getting somewhere. When you walk between avenues, the distance between streets seems endless.

This revelation has applications beyond my transportation habits. It’s the key to getting things done and overcoming procrastination. Or, as Seth Godin puts it, “getting through The Dip“. If you’re like me, the spacing of steps can make or break a project. If points on a roadmap (no pun intended) are spaced too far apart, the distance between them becomes the barrier to tackling the smaller tasks that make up the larger whole. Spaced too close, little happens in between and the time spent managing the steps outweighs the benefits.

I keep this in mind when I start to hit the point at which a project is no longer exciting. I break down the remaining tasks into manageable chunks, and force myself through the lull. To go back to my walking metaphor, I walk a few blocks north, cross one avenue, then head north again. Using this approach, my productivity has sky rocketed, and I get some more exercise too.

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