I’m writing this to you while sitting on the floor in my living room. Don’t ask me why I’m on the floor instead of behind the height-adjustable ergonomic desk in my office, it just feels good to sit on the floor sometimes 😆

It’s been 2 weeks since our son started school again and my 2 month annual break ended. This is the second year (not the third like I say in the video. Apparently, it felt like the longest year of my life 😆) that I’ve run this experiment and I’m sharing my biggest lesson from this year with you today.

Firstly, an honesty disclosure: I did not take the time off completely. Instead, I paused some of my business activities (like client sound board sessions) while I continued with others (like this newsletter) and I spent lots of time with family and sightseeing while on vacation. I’m taking this experiment one step at a time and hoping to build up to taking 2 months off completely while my business keeps running in the background in a few years.

Now, let’s get straight into it.

Highlights

Full summary

My biggest lesson from this year's 2 month break

My biggest lesson this year wasn’t a big revelation but more of a good reminder: taking a longer period of time to think about your direction is an invaluable way to get clarity.

Over time, I’ve built in a lot reflection time in my daily flow. It’s one of the ways that I personally am able to juggle multiple projects and home life while managing my energy without much overwhelm (most of the time 😉).

Despite all that daily reflection, it can still feel hard sometimes to make space for more strategic decisions, including fun projects and work-life balance. For example: an exciting ideas that you’ve been itching to try out but don’t have the time or honestly looking at the project that’s great on paper but that just doesn’t feel quite right.

I was also going through the daily motions and, after months of “keeping down the fort”, I was starting to feel frustrated and disconnected. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way?

Taking the past 2 months off from the daily to-do’s in my work was incredibly helpful to get a good look at what is and isn’t working in my business and if I’m still going in the direction I want.

It helped me to check my compass and decide if I need to adjust course.

My version of Bill Gates' famous think week

This idea isn’t a new one. I suppose you can say that these 2 months off is currently my version of Bill Gates' famous "think week." 

Bill Gates is famous (amongst other things) for taking think weeks: a week-long break once or twice a year when he sits alone in a cabin in the woods away from technology and spends his time reading books and thinking about his personal and business decisions.

Read more about Bill Gates’ think week here. And have a look at productivity writer Chris Bailey’s experience with his own think week experiment.

Benefits of a think week

Here are some of the advantages you might experience with a think week:

space to focus on the big picture coming up with new ideas and increased creativity deeper appreciation for what you have in your life becoming less reactive renewed energy renewed motivation to pick up healthy habits that have slipped Thought and reflection are part of the natural way that introverts process information and form ideas. It van be especially helpful for introverts to take regular thinking breaks, either shorter daily or weekly breaks or a longer “think week” - or both! -

Have you ever taken or wanted to take a “think week”?

Read about my experiment with taking 2 months the first year

Sources

📖1 Think Weeks: What They Are and How to Do Them Right by Aled Maclean-Jones, Ashore 2024

📖2 What I Learned Taking a Bill Gates-Inspired “Think Week” by Chris Bailey, chrisbailey.com, 2020

📖3 Introverts Need Time to Think to Offer the World Our Best by Peter Vogt, Introvert Insights, 2019

📖4 My Introverted Brain Needs Time to Process Things, and That’s OK by Bria Pierce, Introvert, Dear, 2024

📖5 Successful People Like Elon Musk and Warren Buffett Practice Thinking Time Rule by Linda Rolf, Quest Technology Group