Why Sometimes the Most Productive Thing Is to Wander

A year ago, on a warm spring day, I went for a walk with my phone in my pocket and the quiet intention to record something for my podcast.

I had no plan or script. No real idea of what would come out of my mouth. I just knew that sitting at my desk had made me feel stuck for days, and walking usually loosens something in me.

What I didn’t know then, and what became clear only later, is that wandering, physically and creatively, can be the most productive thing we do.

Not productive in the traditional sense, but productive in the way that lets us reconnect with our own voice, our intuition, and the reasons we create in the first place.

The Pressure to Be Valuable

Just a week earlier, I had recorded one of my favourite episodes of that season: 7 Ways to Create Content From Flow (it’s not my most popular, just my personal favourite at the moment). I’d managed to weave structure and intuition together in a way that felt effortless.

I had planned the main points, but I had also allowed myself to speak freely around them. When I finished, I thought, Yes. This is it. This is how I want all my episodes to feel.

Which of course meant that the next time I sat down to record, I immediately put pressure on myself to reproduce that exact feeling. The same clarity and flow. The same value.

And that pressure completely blocked me.

I felt like I needed to know the takeaway before I even pressed “record.” I needed to justify the episode. Solve a problem. Offer something useful.

And the more I tried to force a structured idea into existence, the more unnatural and stiff everything felt.

This happens to so many of us. We make something good, and suddenly we believe it’s our new baseline.

But creativity doesn’t work like that. It cycles. It expands and contracts.

And sometimes the most honest, fertile moments happen when we stop trying to be helpful and just show up as we are.

When Planned Content Stops Feeling Natural

I actually did try to record an idea that day. I remember starting, talking for maybe a minute, and then stopping mid-sentence because it felt wrong.

It wasn’t flowing, and instead of pushing through, I stopped.

And the moment I stopped, I realized:
This isn’t a problem. This is information.

Our creative signals are subtle. Resistance, heaviness, hesitation. But they’re also incredibly wise.

They tell us when we’re trying to make our creativity behave instead of letting it breathe. They tell us when something needs to be lighter, simpler or more intuitive.

So I did the opposite of what I usually do: I walked away from the “point” of the episode and just started talking to myself in German (my native language) for a bit, just to loosen things up. And strangely, it helped.

It was the first sign that I didn’t need a plan that day. I needed space.

Wandering in conversation

When I finally switched back to English and hit record again, I didn’t aim for usefulness or clarity or any kind of structure.

I simply talked. About the walk, the wind. About how strange it felt to record without a goal.

And it felt surprisingly good. Honest.

And that honesty was exactly what I needed at that moment.

Intuitive creativity isn’t something you summon by force. It shows up when you give it room to breathe.

When you stop trying to lead the process and let the process lead you for a while.

Talking without a plan allowed me to hear my own voice again. And sometimes, that’s the most productive thing any of us can do.

Why Unproductive Moments Are Often the Most Productive

Wandering helps in ways that structured productivity can’t:

It lowers pressure.
It clears mental space.
It reconnects you to your own voice.
It tweaks your perspective just enough for ideas to start flowing again.
It reminds you that creativity isn’t something you control. It’s something you cooperate with.

When we wander, we’re not wasting time. We’re composting. We’re letting the scraps of thoughts break down and turn into something richer.

Sometimes the best ideas don’t arrive on command. They bubble up quietly while we’re doing something that doesn’t look productive at all.

Here are a few ways you can try it too:

Go for a walk without a destination. Let your mind drift instead of trying to solve something.
Record a voice note just for yourself. Don’t aim for clarity or coherence. Just let your thoughts spill out.
Switch environments. A different room, a different path, a different language if you speak one. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
Experiment instead of optimizing. Try new things with the mindset of “let’s see how this feels,” not “I must get this right.”
Give yourself one or two “wandering sessions” a week. No goals. Just space.

These small shifts can make your creative practice feel lighter, more playful, and more sustainable.

Wandering is part of the work.

You don’t always have to know where you’re going.

Let yourself be surprised.