Generative Practice: Audio Logging
A Practical Guide To Capturing Clarity While in Motion
Audio logging is a practice of capturing insights, intuitions, and reflections through voice recordings during activities like walking, running, or driving.
Unlike traditional journaling or design logs, audio logging leverages movement and natural speech to surface deeper thinking—transforming otherwise “unusable” time into powerful creative processing. By recording short voice memos and using AI transcription tools, you create a searchable, living archive of your evolving ideas.
I use audio logging as a discernment and reflective practice. It has become my go-to practice to quiet my mind, clarify my thinking, and generate a path forward.
Zen Runs
My primary audio logging practice is what I call “Zen Runs”—a 55-minute loop where I hike uphill for the first half in the Colorado foothills near my house, and then run back down. The physical exertion and rhythmic movement create what I describe as “conditions for clarity,” and I typically capture 5-10 short entries per run, each one a self-contained thought that emerges mid-stride. I’ve learned that my clearest thinking doesn’t happen at my desk wrestling with complexity, but rather in the mountains outside of Boulder where I feel more centered and grounded, accessing what I call “a deeper place of knowing.”
Philosopher’s Walks and Car Talk
Beyond running, I use “Philosopher’s Walks” for working through more complex problems that need contemplation rather than quick capture, and I’ve transformed my car time between school pickups and errands into “Car Talk” sessions. During drives, I either process emerging thoughts or engage in full conversations with AI about concepts I’m wrestling with, with transcripts automatically saved for later review. I’m creating a space for the interconnection of ideas to emerge—automatically rolling daily entries into weekly chapters, monthly sections, and quarterly volumes. This growing archive feeds into NotebookLM, creating a living inquiry tool where I can ask questions like “What themes keep emerging?” or “What’s the decision I keep circling but not making?”
When should you practice Audio Logging?
Audio Logging is a discernment practice that helps distill and clarify ideas. Engage this practice when:
You need distance from the problem. When you’ve been staring at your screen for hours, cycling through the same thoughts without breakthrough, audio logging creates necessary separation. The physical act of moving—whether walking, running, or driving—interrupts mental loops and allows fresh perspectives to surface.
You’re at a decision point. When you’re circling a choice but can’t commit, speaking your reasoning aloud reveals the logic (or illogic) beneath your hesitation. The verbal processing often surfaces the gut feeling you’ve been intellectualizing around.
Complexity is overwhelming you. When a project has too many moving parts to hold in working memory, audio logging lets you externalize one thread at a time. Each recording becomes a thought you no longer have to carry, freeing cognitive space for the next layer.
You’re between phases of work. Transitions—between meetings, projects, or modes of thinking—are prime territory for reflection. Audio logging captures what wants to emerge before you context-switch and lose it.
Inspiration strikes at inconvenient times. The best ideas rarely arrive during designated “thinking time.” Audio logging meets insights where they happen, without forcing you to stop and write.
You need to process, not produce. Unlike creative practices used for generating solutions, audio logging is for sense-making. When you need to understand what you actually think before deciding what to do, speaking into movement creates the conditions for that clarity to emerge.
The Core Method
Step 1: Choose Your Context
Identify regular activities that create space for reflection—morning runs, contemplative walks, or commute drives. Consistency matters more than duration.
Step 2: Set Up Simple Capture
Use your phone’s voice recorder or Apple Watch. Keep recordings short and focused: 20-60 seconds per insight works best.
Step 3: Establish a Signal Framework
Before recording, identify what you’re capturing using the “Four I’s”:
Insights: What’s surprising or contradictory?
Inspiration: What sparks new possibilities?
Intuition: What’s your gut telling you?
Intent: What action is becoming clear?
Step 4: Automate Transcription
Connect your recordings to transcription services like Firefly, Otter.ai, or Apple’s native transcription through simple automation tools (Zapier, Shortcuts, or Dropbox).
Step 5: Create Reflection Cycles
Roll up entries into larger timeframes—daily files into weekly summaries, weekly into monthly themes. Use AI tools like NotebookLM or ChatGPT to identify patterns and recurring themes.
Why It Works
Audio logging taps into what neuroscience calls “diffuse mode thinking.”
Research shows that walking increases creative output by 60% compared to sitting, according to Stanford studies on movement and cognition. The bilateral motion of walking activates both brain hemispheres, facilitating novel connections.
Speaking engages different neural pathways than writing. Oral processing often accesses more intuitive, associative thinking—what psychologist Daniel Kahneman describes as “System 1” thinking—before analytical “System 2” filters take over. The physical distance from your workspace reduces cognitive anchoring, allowing fresh perspectives to emerge.
Principles Behind the Practice
Record immediately when insight strikes. Don’t wait until after your walk or run. Clarity fades quickly; capture it in the moment of recognition.
Keep entries atomic. One thought per recording makes later organization infinitely easier and prevents rambling that obscures your core insight.
Build a consistent naming convention. Date-stamp recordings and use context codes (ZR for Zen Run (more on that below), CAR for drives) to track where different types of thinking emerge.
Review weekly, not daily. Let insights accumulate before analyzing. Patterns become visible across multiple entries that aren’t apparent in single recordings.
How to Start
Begin with one week of morning walks. Commit to capturing just three voice memos per walk using your phone’s native recorder—no fancy tools required yet. Focus on noticing one surprise, one possibility, and one next step each time. At week’s end, listen to all recordings in sequence. Notice what themes emerge. Only then add transcription automation. Start simple, build the habit first, automate second.