Conscious Career – Day 30
Dr. Goleman has an excellent point, but how do you “Trait Effect”? Especially when you live in the midst of a busy life. Even if you’re the most disciplined person on the planet, you might find it difficult to carve out the time you need to think and plan ways to get what you desire. There’s always something pulling at your attention or popping up to distract you.
Personal Planning Retreats
Consider doing a personal planning retreat. Did you know that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, takes periodic retreats? He schedules a full week of seclusion twice a year for what he calls his “Think Week.” And he’s done this for more than 30 years. Taking uninterrupted time to step back from the immediate here and now to look at the big picture has been paramount to his success.
There’s no need to take a week to do this – only a day or even a half day will help you tremendously.
Four Tips For A Fruitful Personal Planning Retreat
- Create uninterrupted space and time for yourself. Put the date on your calendar and protect it like you would a vacation day. No kids, no managers, no employees, no significant others demanding your time. No electronics either… that is unless you are using a computer strictly for typing your plan. You must truly think of this as YOUR time.
- It’s up to you how often you want to have your personal planning retreats. You can make this an annual event, perhaps on your birthday or sometime during the last week of the year or the first week of the new year. Of course, you might also find it useful to schedule your retreats more frequently. Some people enjoy this process so much that they schedule bi-annual or quarterly personal retreats.
- Ideally, give yourself a half day to a whole day away from the normal distractions. This is a time when you will do a lot of inner reflection, so I strongly advise you go to a different place where you can enjoy solitude if at all possible. Get out of the house or away from the office, turn off the phone and give yourself permission to think without distractions.
- During your personal planning retreat, it’s a good idea to start off by asking yourself questions to check in and see where you are. When you answer the question, you are making an affirmative statement, which is a powerful goal achieving technique. Here are two general questions for you to consider asking yourself if you’re not used to doing a process like this:
- What is my intention? OR, to be more specific… What is my one big project to complete/problem to solve this year?
- What do I need to reach success? Break it down further… – What knowledge/skills? – What external support system? – What physical needs/resources?
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