The Outdoor Office: What Happens When You Take Your Work Into the Wild

One day a week, I swapped my desk for dunes, trees, and trails. Here’s what I learned.

What would happen if you took your work outside?

Not just a coffee-on-a-bench kind of break. But a full day. With a to-do list, focus, and intention — just set somewhere birdsong and wind replaced Slack and Outlook pings and artificial lighting.

That was the question that sparked the outdoor office experiment: one day a week for three months, I’ve been working from nature instead of my usual workspace. My goal? To explore which tasks can and can’t be done outside — and to find a more regenerative rhythm between work, life, indoors and out.

I’m one month in. Here’s what I've learned so far.

Why I Started Taking My Office Outdoors

The idea for this experiment grew from a deep curiosity: how do we bridge modern life — with all its speed, screens, and schedules — with the quiet pace of the natural world?

Nature has always helped me feel my best and do my best work. So I started wondering: could more of my actual working hours happen outside? Could I make this part of my professional rhythm?

And so, the experiment began. Each week, I pack a backpack with essentials — a thermos, notebook, lunch, power bank, and sometimes even a hammock — and head out into a forest, park, or nature reserve to see what happens when I do work differently.

From the start, I learned that while some tasks (like writing reports) don’t translate well, others (like brainstorming, reflecting, or solving complex problems) thrive in a natural setting. And although it takes a bit longer to "land" and feel focused in the forest than at a desk, the calm, clarity, and creativity that follow are unlike anything I get indoors.

What Nature Is (and Isn’t) Great For

The outdoors isn’t ideal for everything. I’ve struggled with screen-based tasks — writing up documents, data entry, and anything requiring sustained laptop time. The ergonomics aren’t great, and the environment isn't always predictable. So I adapted: analogue notebooks replaced Word docs, voice transcribing software let me think out loud while walking or gazing at the clouds, and a simple phone notepad helped me capture quick ideas.

When it comes to deep thinking, nature is unmatched.

The outdoor office is especially powerful for long-term visioning, unraveling complex challenges, or sitting with big questions. I’ve taken strategic business decisions into the dunes, wrestled with coaching frameworks under the trees, and found unexpected clarity again and again.

There was one moment that really stuck with me. I’d been trying to analyze a particularly complex problem and come up with actionable next steps. I was stuck. My brain just didn't seem to figure things out in the way I wanted it to. So I let my gaze soften and wander — and that’s when I noticed them: ants, everywhere, emerging from a nearby nest, spreading out in all directions.

And suddenly, it clicked. I didn’t need one perfect solution. I needed to explore multiple possibilities. The ants became my metaphor, my mirror. Nature had handed me a strategy — not through a whiteboard or a brainstorm, but through being in relationship with my surroundings.

What Nature Reminded Me About Wisdom, Focus, and Time

One of the biggest insights from this experiment so far is how much better my thinking is outdoors.

There’s less mental noise. Less jumping between tabs. And a felt sense of slowing down that brings me closer to what really matters. The kind of creative, calm clarity I tap into in nature feels different — almost like I’m connecting to a deeper source of intelligence.

This, to me, is the regenerative wisdom of nature. And it’s something I believe we urgently need — not just for our personal well-being, but for the way we work, lead, and make decisions.

So much of modern life is about efficiency, speed, and control. But nature teaches us something different: rhythm, relationship, and deep listening. And I believe those values aren’t just beautiful — they’re necessary. Especially if we want to meet the challenges of our time with clarity, connection, and courage.

For me, what started as a personal experiment has become a much-needed antidote to the busy and the boxed-in. The outdoor office days turned into my deep work days — where insight happens, ideas take root, and I get to experiment with potential new and transformative ways of working.

An Invitation to You

I’m still exploring, still experimenting. But one thing is clear: there’s something powerful waiting for us when we bring our work into relationship with the natural world.

If you're a coach, trainer, consultant — or doing work that involves change, creativity, or complexity — I invite you to try your own version of the outdoor office. Not as a gimmick or a break, but as a tool in your toolkit. Just like you’d reach for a mind map or a whiteboard, consider reaching for a tree stump, a forest path, or quiet meadow.

Here’s a challenge:
Find one day (or even half a day) this month to test the outdoor office.
Bring a question, dilemma or creative question. Work on something that needs depth or perspective. Take your notebook, sit, walk, observe, think, reflect. And see what emerges from there.

And if you're curious to follow along as this experiment continues, join my email list to receive updates, insights, and practical tips along the way.

If you’re craving to go deeper — to learn how nature can transform your work with clients, teams, or ideas — you can also sign up for the Wild Wisdom waitlist, my upcoming training on working with the intelligence of the living world.

This is only the beginning.
Let’s see where the path will take us.