1. WARKING - Doubling Up
What Stay at Home Moms & StartUps Have in Common -
SE Hayes
Tuesday, October 9, 12

2. we spoke with
3 Social Walkers
and we learned...
Tuesday, October 9, 12

3. Arlene - 58 - Mom & Fitness Buff
walks every week day for 1 hour for 28 years
“You get isolated from your
peers when you work at home”
Context
Inspiration: Started walking to improve her tennis game
Trigger: Every day when the kids would leave the house for school
Habit: Started with a neighbor, now has a group of 12 ladies on a list
Why It Works: No set up, not worries if you need to cancel. It’s flexible and easy
Insights
“This is not exercise...everyone else has another activity that they do for fitness”
Social LifeHack - “This is where I get info and problem solve by talking with my
peers from recipes to counseling to sex”
Tuesday, October 9, 12

4. Arlene - 58 - Mom & Fitness Buff
walks every week day for 1 hour for 28 years
“You get isolated from your
peers when you work at home”
Steps
1. I was playing tennis and wanted to strength my caves.
2. I don’t like running, so decided to walk
3. Neighbor down the street walked, so I started to join her when
kids left for school in the mornings
4. We would walk a couple of times a week
5. More ladies joined...now there are 12 and we’ve been doing it 20+
years.
6. A couple of years after I started walking, we got a dog...and that
increased my walking as well
7. I now do it wherever I am during that time period of 8 - 9 am
Tuesday, October 9, 12

5. Pieter - 26 - Founder
walks 30 mins 2 - 3x a week on the treadmill
“Walking helps me to focus”
Context
Inspiration: Sedentary Job - Being silly at work at 1 am on Saturday, the team got on
the tread mill to have a meeting.
Trigger: Joint injury that will start to hurt and will remind him
Habit: Does 1x1 meetings & when he needs solo time away from the team to focus
Why It Works: It’s right there and he gets to move without sweating
Insights
“We named it WARKING (and tried to patent it) - Giving it a name makes it a
legitimate activity
It has grown into a team culture norm - sync with each other via walking
He would do it more but feels pressure to be more available to the team by being in
the same room.
Tuesday, October 9, 12

6. Pieter - 26 - Founder
walks 30 mins 2 - 3x a week on the treadmill
“Walking helps me to focus”
Steps
1. It was 1 am and we were at work - drinking and being silly
2. For fun we got on the treadmill - and had a meeting there...it was fun
3. We named in ‘warking’ and tried to see if we could patent it.
4. Afterwards we started to ‘meet’ on the treadmills, but too tough with
many people
5. Now we do 1-1 style meetings & my girlfriend will meet me and we’ll
walk together to get time together.
6. Other team members do it too...it’s now become “head space time”/away
from the group when people want to talk (lack of privacy in the space)
7. Would like to do it more frequently but feels guilty when he gets too busy
Tuesday, October 9, 12

7. Sally - 64 - Mom & Part Time Project Manger
walks 30 mins 3x a week with friends
“It’s like a double treat - a double
dip ice cream cone of pleasure”
Context
Inspiration: When she was going through a divorce she went 2x a day as a stress
mechanism - morning with friends, evening to figure out an action plan.
Trigger: then: kids leaving the house, now it’s group meeting time.
Habit: She has an incredibly hectic schedule and she can keep in sync with her friends
Why It Works: Because I always want to walk anyway, and friends makes it a bonus!
Insights
She considers walking ‘mental health time’
“I would walk out of the door overwhelmed and frightened and when I got home I
would have a plan of attack 1....2...3...and begin my list.”
In a crazy world, this is ‘my time’
Tuesday, October 9, 12

8. Sally - 64 - Mom & Part Time Project Manger
walks 30 mins 3x a week with friends
“It’s like a double treat - a double
dip ice cream cone of pleasure”
Steps
1. I was getting a divorce and I was just really hurting and lost.
2. A couple of girls asked me if I wanted to join them - I needed adult companionship time
3. They walked everyday when the kids went off to school and I started everyday too
I quickly found that I just felt better after walking...like I could face the world again
4. So I started doing it 2x a day, once in the morning with the girls to get social time, and
once in the evening, I didn’t want to be in the house and I would come back with an action
plan at the end of my walk.
5. Over the next few months, I started to feel better about myself and felt like I could get
through anything with my walk.
6. After the divorce when I moved to a new town I got to know people socially by joining a
walking group.
7. Now I have such a hectic schedule that it’s a way for me to feel good & see my friends
Tuesday, October 9, 12

9. Meta Patterns
Motivation:
Walking 30 Minutes isn’t ‘aspirational’ enough to count as exercise
Social walking means different things to different people - all had Authenticity of
Connection as an undercurrent. - semi - private
Lifehack - it’s time to get peer info to do the rest of your life better
Ability:
Naming the activity helped immensely - it’s special, ownership, and inclusive
Convenience items helped: set time, no planning, time of day/ritual
Consistencies
Everyone mentioned a mental health component...women seem to do this through
talking, men through focus --> but for all it was a mental separation from the rest of life
The feeling of walking was a discoverable reward for the activity.
Tuesday, October 9, 12

10. While Cooking Dinner,
walk 1 lap, Buy Frizzy
Make Tea
get diet coke Water 1 time
Chill Tea
walk 2 laps, Buy Frizzy Water
Overnight
get diet coke on Fridays
Make a kitchen/break
area in workspace
Bottle Tea
walk 3 laps Buy Frizzy Water
get diet coke in Afternoons
Bring in large
Put Tea in Backpack continue until water bottles
Buy Frizzy Water
want water or no
Every time
diet coke
Put Tea in Fridge Put Fizzy Water
Maker in Work Area
Fill Glass with tea
at work first thing
Bring personal reusable
Give Up Diet Coke cups
Make Kombucha
Put Kombucha cup track it on the track wall
on desk --> reminder
Bottle Kombucha actually eat food tell coworkers that
for every free week, i’ll treat
Take Large Container
one person to lunch
to work
Take food to work Tell coworkers
grocery shopping that i am trying to
quit
Tuesday, October 9, 12