30/05/2026
On working outdoors an hour a day.
When I give talks about getting outdoors more, the biggest objection is always lack of time. I understand that. But I also suggest that if you’re too busy for fifteen minutes of fresh air, you probably need thirty... Sitting under a tree might not feel urgent, but it can be important.
So I tried an experiment: work outside for one hour every day for a week.
I began by moving a few metres from the desk in my shed to a log outside the door. The change was tiny, but it felt energising.
The next day I took my laptop to a picnic bench beneath chestnut trees.
Day three, I confirmed that climbing a tree is an excellent addition to any hour of work.
Day four I worked beside a duck pond, distracted by sparrows in a hedge.
On day five, in the name of professional thoroughness, I took my notebook to a pub garden...
What surprised me was that the inconveniences helped. Without wi-fi, I couldn’t drift into online faffing. The constraint made me focus. The outdoor settings also loosened my thinking. New ideas surfaced. Work felt lighter.
That made me wonder if this points to something larger. We have grown so used to assuming work belongs indoors that sitting outside with a laptop feels odd. But why? Why not take more calls in the sunshine? Hold more meetings as walks? Let children learn outside more often?
This is not about turning all time outdoors into productivity. There is still value in sitting beneath a tree with nothing to achieve. The point is simpler: to loosen the boundary we have built between life and the outdoors, and let a little more of our ordinary days happen outside.
Nature connection will not return only through special trips or heroic lifestyle overhauls, but it may return through small shifts in routine.
Sometimes a change in life begins not by adding more to our days, but by doing the same things in a different place.
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This idea is explored in my new book, Unwilded, available to pre-order now from your local bookshop, via the link in my bio, or at www.unwilded.com
