Thread by @jenheemstra

Last week I tried something new - I organized a 1 day personal retreat for myself.

It was awesome. In a very short time, I was able to build incredible clarity around my short and long term goals and my priorities for the year. Will definitely be repeating. Details below:

If you’re thinking “how did you clear your schedule for a whole day?” the answer is planning. I made the decision about 2 months ago, put it on the calendar, and fiercely resisted the urge to schedule anything in that time.

One imperfect thing was that I woke up with an hour of “essential” work to do. So, I started early, stayed focused, and got those things done. I then reset and unplugged with a trip to the climbing gym. Once the retreat started, I stayed almost completely off email until evening.

I created my schedule around 5 sessions:
1. Journaling - Where am I right now? What am I proud of from the last year and what do I wish I had done differently?

2. Long term goals and values - Where do I want to be at the end of my career and the end of my life? What do I want people to say about me at my retirement party and funeral (borrowed this exercise from 7 Habits)

3. Mid term goals - Where will I be in 5 years? What do I want to have accomplished?
4. Priority grid - How should I be spending my time this year to make these goals possible?
5. Improvement - What will success require and who do I need to become as a person to make that happen?

Conclusion - this was AMAZING and well worth the time. I was mulling these topics before the retreat and will continue unpacking in the months to come. But, having one focused day let me dig in at a level that would have been difficult otherwise. Already scheduling for next year!