The 10,000-Step Accident (And Why I Do It Anyway)

I have a daily goal of 10,000 steps. Most days I hit it. Some days I don’t.

The 10,000-step goal started as a marketing gimmick — but the science behind it might surprise you.

Yes, I am aware that 10,000 steps started as a marketing gimmick. In 1965, a Japanese company selling pedometers needed a number that sounded good. They called their device manpo-kei—literally “10,000 steps meter.” No peer-reviewed study or longitudinal data. Just a round number that stuck.

But, research suggests that the number is not so far off…

In 2022, researchers tracked over 78,000 UK adults wearing wrist accelerometers to see how daily movement mapped against long-term cognitive health. When they checked back seven years later, the estimated sweet spot for the greatest drop in dementia risk landed right around 9,826 steps a day.

Important to remember, this research tracked correlation not causation. It shows that people who move more tend to preserve their minds better, not that daily steps alone act as an ironclad shield. Still, even getting to roughly 3,800 steps captured about half of that protective benefit, giving a 1965 Japanese marketing gimmick some serious, unintended legitimacy.

So 10,000 steps remains my daily goal.

Why Walking Matters More Than the Number

The research is clear: the biggest health gains don’t come from hitting 10,000. They come from moving at all. Going from 2,000 to 5,000 steps delivers more benefit than going from 9,000 to 10,000. The curve flattens. The magic is in just getting started.

But, walking isn't just cardiovascular maintenance. It’s when we do our best thinking.

History’s greatest minds have found that walking gives them the benefit of time and space for better work. “It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth,” Nietzsche would later say.

It’s a strange paradox that one of the greatest ways to still your mind is to put the body in motion.

Whenever Hemingway hit a wall in his Paris apartment, he would leave his desk and wander along the Seine until his sentences untangled themselves. Darwin built multiple loops into his daily calendar, treating his walks as an essential thinking tool rather than exercise. Dickens stalked through the London fog and Kent countryside for up to twenty miles at a stretch, hammering out plot lines. Wordsworth logged an estimated 180,000 miles over his life—averaging more than six miles a day from childhood into old age.

Putting the body in motion was how they did their clearest thinking.

Marc Andreessen, the money and brains behind Facebook, Twitter and more, nearly ran over an older man while driving around near his home. Looking back, he realized he had almost ran over Steve Jobs! Jobs was famous in the Palo Alto area for his long walks often with associates for problem solving meetings.

Walking creates space. It gives your brain permission to wander, to connect, to solve what sitting couldn’t crack.

My Walking Routine

I take one big walk early (in my neighborhood, often before the sun rises)—usually 30-45 minutes. That knocks out half my goal before most people check their email. Then I scatter four or five shorter walks throughout the day. Five minutes here. Ten minutes there. A lap around the block between calls.

Walking isn't just exercise — it's how history's greatest minds did their clearest thinking

If you’re pressed for time, pace matters. Thirty minutes at a brisk clip can deliver similar longevity benefits as more steps at a slower pace. The sweet spot seems to be purposeful movement for at least half an hour daily.

But consistency beats intensity. Always.

The Invitation

I’m not here to guilt you into 10,000 steps. I’m here to invite you to walk more today than you did yesterday.

Start with 5,000. Or 3,000. Or a single 10-minute walk after breakfast. The goal isn’t the number—it’s the habit. It’s building the capacity today that becomes the availability you need tomorrow.

Your body isn’t something to manage through decline. It’s something to prepare for convergence.

So walk with me. Not because a Japanese marketing team said so in 1965. Not because some study landed on 9,826. But because walking is one of the simplest, most accessible ways to build the strength, clarity, and capacity your second act requires.

You don't need 10,000 steps to start — you just need to move more than you did yesterday.

If you ever come to Thomasville, Georgia, be sure to stop off at Cherokee Park and enjoy the scenery while you walk.

From Darwin to Steve Jobs, the world's sharpest thinkers all shared one simple habit — walking.

Hit reply and tell me: How many steps did you walk today?

— David