Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Ahmed Omer Reviewer: dagim zerihun

What you're doing,

የሚያደርጉት ነገር

right now, at this very moment,

አሁን

is killing you.

እየገደሎት ነው

More than cars or the Internet

ከመኪና ወይም ከበየነ-መረብ በላይ

or even that little mobile device we keep talking about,

ወይም ሁሌ ከምናወሳቸው ከተንቀሳቃሽ መሳሪያዎቻችንም በላይ

the technology you're using the most almost every day

በየቀኑ የሚጠቀሙበት ቴክኖሎጂ

is this, your tush.

የይሄ ነው፤ መቀመጫዎ!

Nowadays people are sitting 9.3 hours a day,

አሁን በቀን ለ9.3 ሰዓታት ሰዎች በቀመጥ ያሳልፋሉ

which is more than we're sleeping, at 7.7 hours.

ለእንቅልፍ ከምንሰጠው 7.7 ሰዓታት ባላይ ነው

Sitting is so incredibly prevalent,

መቀመጥ በሚያስገርም መልኩ የተለመደ ነው

we don't even question how much we're doing it,

ምንያህል እያዘወተርነው እንደሆነ አልተገነዘብነውም

and because everyone else is doing it,

ሰው ሁላ ስለሚያደርገው

it doesn't even occur to us that it's not okay.

ትክክል አለመሆኑ አይመጣልንም

In that way, sitting has become

በዚህ የተነሳ መቀመጥ ምን እየመሰለ መጣ

the smoking of our generation.

የዘመኑ ሲጋራ ሱስ

Of course there's health consequences to this,

በእርግጥ ጤናን ይጎዳል

scary ones, besides the waist.

ከወገብ ህመም በተለየ መልኩ

Things like breast cancer and colon cancer

የጡት ካንሰር ወይም ኮሎን ካንሰር

are directly tied to our lack of physical [activity],

እንቅስቃሴ ከባለማድረጋችን ጋር ቀጥተኛ ተዛማጅነት አላቸው

Ten percent in fact, on both of those.

ሁለቱም አስር በመቶ ያህል

Six percent for heart disease,

ለልብ ህመም ስድሰት በመቶ

seven percent for type 2 diabetes,

ለሁለተኛው ዓይነት ስኳር ብሽታ ሰባት በመቶ

which is what my father died of.

አባቴን በዚህ ነው ያጣሁት

Now, any of those stats should convince each of us

አሁን እነዚህ ቁጥሮች እያንዳንዳችንን ሊያሳምን ይገባል

to get off our duff more,

መቀመጫችንን ዘና ማድረግ ይኖርብናል

but if you're anything like me, it won't.

ግን እንደ እኔ ከሆናችሁ፤ አይሳካም

What did get me moving was a social interaction.

እንድንቀሳቀስ የረዳኝ ማህበረሰባዊ ግንኙነቴ ነው

Someone invited me to a meeting,

አንድ ሰው ለስብሰባ ጋበዘኝ

but couldn't manage to fit me in

ግን ተሳትፎዬን ማረጋገጥ አልቻለም

to a regular sort of conference room meeting, and said,

በቋሚ የአዳራሽ ስብሰባ ውስጥ፤ እና ምን አለ

"I have to walk my dogs tomorrow. Could you come then?"

‹ውሾቼን ነገ ስለማዝናና፤ የዛኔ ብንገናኝስ?›

It seemed kind of odd to do,

ለማድረግ ትንሽ ግራ ያጋባ ነበር

and actually, that first meeting, I remember thinking,

የመጀመሪያው ስብሰባ ትዝ ይለኝ ነበር

"I have to be the one to ask the next question,"

የመጀመሪያውን ጥያቄ ማንሳት ያለብኝ እኔ ነበርኩ

because I knew I was going to huff and puff

ምክንያቱም ልማረር እንደምችል አቃለሁ

during this conversation.

በውይይቱ ጊዜ

And yet, I've taken that idea and made it my own.

እናም ይሄን ሀሳብ በመውሰድ የራሴ ለማድረግ ችያለሁ

So instead of going to coffee meetings

ስለዚህ ቡና እየተጠጣ ከመሰብሰብ

or fluorescent-lit conference room meetings,

ወይም በመብራት ቦግ ያለ የስብሰባ አዳራሽ ውስጥ ከመሆን

I ask people to go on a walking meeting,

ሰዎች እግረመንገዳቸውን እንዲሰበሰቡ እመክራለሁ

to the tune of 20 to 30 miles a week.

በሳምንት ከ30 እስከ 50 ኪ.ሜ በመጓዝ

It's changed my life.

ህይወቴን ቀይሮታል

But before that, what actually happened was,

ከዚህ በፊት የነበረው

I used to think about it as,

you could take care of your health,

እንዲ አርጌ ነበር የማስበው

ጤናዎን መጠበቅ ይችላሉ

or you could take care of obligations,

ወይም ግዴታዎን መጠበቅ ይችላሉ

and one always came at the cost of the other.

እናም አንዱን ስንመርጥ ሁሌም አንዱን እንተወው ነበር

So now, several hundred of these walking meetings later,

ከመቶዎች የእግረመንገድ ስብሰባ በኋላ

I've learned a few things.

የተወሰኑ ነገሮች ተማርኩኝ

First, there's this amazing thing

መጀመሪያ የሆነ ደስሚል ነገር አለ

about actually getting out of the box

ከተለምዶ ሁኔታ መውጣትን በተመለከተ

that leads to out-of-the-box thinking.

ወደ ያልተለመደ አስተሳሰብ ይመራል

Whether it's nature or the exercise itself, it certainly works.

ተፈጥሮም ቢሆን ልምምድ፤ መስራቱ አይቀርም

And second, and probably the more reflective one,

ሁለተኛውና አወያዩ ጉዳይ

is just about how much each of us

እያንዳንዳችን ስለምናረገው ነው

can hold problems in opposition

በተቃራኒው ችግሮችን እንይዛለን

when they're really not that way.

እንደዛም ባይሆኑ እንኳን

And if we're going to solve problems

ችግር የምንቀርፍ ከሆነ

and look at the world really differently,

እና ዓለምን በተለየ መልኩ ለመመልከት

whether it's in governance or business

በአስተዳደር ወይንም ቢዝነስ ውስጥም

or environmental issues, job creation,

ወይም የአካባቢ ጉዳዮችና ስራ ፈጠራ

maybe we can think about how to reframe those problems

ምንአልባት እነዚህን ችግሮች ለማስተካከል እናስብ ይሆናል

as having both things be true.

ሁለቱንም ማረጋገጥ ትክክል እንደሆነ

Because it was when that happened

ምክንያቱም ይሄ የሆነው

with this walk-and-talk idea

ንግግርን እናንቀሳቅስ ሀሳብ በሚለው ነበር

that things became doable and sustainable and viable.

ነገሮች መፈፀም ፣ ዘላቂና አዋጭ እንዲሆኑ አስቻለ

So I started this talk talking about the tush,

እናም ይህን ንግግር ስለመቀመጫ በማውጋት ጀመርኩኝ

so I'll end with the bottom line, which is,

ለማጠናቀቅ ያህል

walk and talk.

ንግግሮን ያንቀሳቅሱ

Walk the talk.

You'll be surprised at how fresh air drives fresh thinking,

ንፁህ አየር እንዴት አዲስ ሀሳብ እንደሚያመጣ በማወቅ ይደነቃሉ

and in the way that you do,

በቀንተቀን አሰራሮ ላይ

you'll bring into your life an entirely new set of ideas.

ወደ ህይወትዎ አይተውት በማያቁ መልኩ አዳዲስ ሀሳቦችን ይጋብዛሉ

Thank you.

አመሰግናለሁ!

(Applause)

(ጭብጨባ)