How to get more outdoor time into your work week…

If you’re visiting this blog then chances are you are interested in spending time outdoors, and its presence (or lack of) in your work week.

Perhaps you know that being outside makes you feel better, and you have an inkling that spending time outdoors could help your work in some way.  

There is heaps of evidence that shows the benefits of being in nature for wellbeing, creativity, mood, productivity, reducing stress, and big picture thinking.

But let’s be real.

How many of us have also looked up from our screens at the end of an intense day, and realised we haven’t even seen the light of day?

Yep. That’ll be all of us, probably.

For #OutdoorOfficeDay 2025, The Outsiders community gathered in Edinburgh at the magnificent Holyrood Park, to think about time outdoors in our work week, and to get some work done – through outdoor action learning and a nature connected co-work.

To get people thinking, we posed two simple open questions.

1. What stops you getting outdoors in your work week?
2. What would enable you to get outdoors more in your work week?

As ever the community got involved, and came up with heaps of suggestions and solutions, and we wanted to capture these here to share and hopefully help and inspire others to take some action towards getting outdoors more in the work week.

So firstly, let us validate any barriers or “excuses” you are coming up against. I’m pretty sure we covered the majority…

What stops you getting outdoors in your work week?

This seemed to fall into three core themes: lack of time, practical considerations, and getting in our own way…

Time

• I don’t have time, and I can’t afford to make time
• I get last-minute commitments, urgent requests, or unexpected tasks, which means I forfeit time outside
• There’s always too much to do to take a break
• I don’t plan it in, so it doesn’t happen
• I often work through lunch

Practical considerations

• Bad or unpredictable weather
• The glare means I can’t see the screen
• No plugs and bad battery life on my laptop / phone
• Having to work on a computer
• Meetings/video calls fear of signal
• Lack of or worry about lack of / slow Wifi
• I’m not always prepared to take my work outside

Getting in our own way

• Unpacking is a faff
• Laziness, can’t be bothered to get out
• It’s not a habit
• Sometimes I just don’t want to see people
• I don’t have any company (dog, friends)
• A walk needs to “go somewhere” or achieve something big
• I need to do a big thing, like a 5km
• I get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start

Next, considering these barriers, we set to work thinking up ways we could overcome these barriers and to support more time outdoors in the work week.

And good news, we came up with more solutions than problems. Let’s dive in!…

Make it sociable

• Arrange to get outdoors with a friend, or team up with an outdoor accountability buddy
• Get a dog (!!), or borrow one, or do dog walking
• Tell someone you’re going to do it.

Make it fun and easy!

• Sign up to a charity walk so you have a goal
• Stick to what you enjoy most – maybe you like to be by the sea, climb a hill, sit on grass, enjoy flowers / trees
• Identify locations that work for you – use apps like Wild Working to find the best outdoor work spots
• Explore more, make it an adventure and create a local bucket list

Think about the best work to do outdoors

• Can you make meetings walk and talks or just take them outdoors
• Have a list of places you know that have good wifi/signal to tether from your phone
• Highlight what to-do list stuff can happen outside
• Schedule netwalking
• Combine your time outdoors with a chore or task (for example, pay HMRC from your phone outside!!)

Make it enjoyable/rewarding

• Get a reward for going outdoor (e.g. treat yourself to a nice coffee / cake)
• Line up your favourite podcasts to enjoy outside
• Take an activity to do to break up your work (a ball, a paint set, a hammock)
• Sign up to an app where you get rewards for walking like Trundl and WeWard
• Treat yourself to some nice kit to make it feel good (a flask, a sit mat, a jacket)

Create a habit

• Prepare in advance and have the right kit for the weather
• Set yourself a challenge, and have a habit tracker to keep you motivated
• Factor in time – create a reminder / alarm / schedule / straight after lunch
• Have a reminder somewhere obvious – post-it / home screen
• Set up your environment to help you, for example, leave your laptop in your car so you HAVE to go outdoors.
• Think about where you could go to work, that requires a walk or a cycle to get there

Recognise the benefits

• Recognise that you are more productive after a break
• Remind yourself of the benefits of spending time in nature for creativity, productivity, mood and motivation
• Take a minute to reflect after spending time outdoors, and recognise how you feel

Adjusting our mindset

• Prioritise going out without feeling guilty, time outdoors is good for us. If we’re not looking after ourselves, we’re not looking after our business!
• Accepting that productivity does not have to be indoors
• Remaining flexible based on weather and time available

As part of the event, we split into small groups to do some outdoor action learning, and here the group experienced the benefits first-hand of thinking and “working” outdoors.

Some reported this didn’t feel like work, they were able to solve business challenges and think about things with fresh perspective by taking this “work” outdoors. They shared that they felt relaxed and were able to think differently.

It was by no means a scientific experiment, but some folks certainly came away thinking differently about taking their work outdoors.

The final advice our group came up with was to not overthink it, to just do it, and to keep an open and explorative mindset. Most importantly, to enjoy spending time outdoors!