“Life is the Journey, Not the Destination.”

Reflections on My First “Think Day”.

I’m a big believer in being an “experi-mentor”. This is the term Judith E. Glaser created for mentoring experiments— they never fail, as we always learn from investigation and reflection!

My big experiment last week was inspired by a LinkedIn post and is based on a tool Bill Gates has written about. It’s called Think Week. Gates explains, “Think Week is a time when I can be creative and push my own thinking. It's a time to step outside the day-to-day demands of my job and really focus on the big picture."

Since I couldn’t see myself taking a week to dabble in this experiment, I took the lead from the originator of the post, Sahil Bloom and set myself up for a Think Day. I was particularly motivated to try this exercise on for size, being that Reflection is my word of the year. Think Day provided the opportunity to reflect in a different dimension.

But wait, there’s a third reason I was excited about my inaugural Think Day: Besides loving to mentor experiments and looking at reflection from a different angle, I have recently discovered the joy of intentionally “dimensionalizing” events.

Okay, maybe that word is made up. But the idea aligns with the premise that “life is the journey, not the destination”. You see, an event occurs during finite moments in time. However, we get to lengthen the appreciation of a single event by intentionally looking forward to the event, being present and grounded during the event, and then savoring the after-effects. Since I’d put this methodology into action recently, in the weeks leading up to my 40-year high school reunion, it’s been at top of mind.

My Think Day intentions were to:

1. Purposefully prime myself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually for the day;

2. Consider how to maximize the actual hours of Think Day;

3. And be thoughtful about how to leverage the fruits of this one-day retreat.

If Think Day sounds interesting to you, perhaps you’ll benefit from considering some of the steps I took during each stage to set myself up for success for this rich, meaningful and valuable practice:

Priming for Think Day.

I became intentional about setting myself up for Think Day by making this priming list. It felt like I was packing and organizing for a vacation!

- OOO message composed

- Healthy snacks planned and prepped

- Journaling prompts created and printed

- Articles chosen and stacked to read

- Marcus Aurelius Meditations and Meditations from the Mat for contemplation

- Classical music lined up to fill the room and my brain with expansive energy

- Sticky notes handy to download random thoughts from my brain to paper

- Commitment to listening to the hourly church bells from my back deck to ground myself

- A plan to indulge in ‘movement’ between activities

As I compiled my ideas about priming for the day, I enjoyed savoring the day before it actually arrived. I considered my cozy retreat room, with the fireplace glowing, music creating an expansive feel, the yoga mat in the corner for stretching, and my walking stick next to the door for strolling the woods.

The Actual Day.

I woke up excited to dive into the day and thoughtfully savored my daily habits and practices with the spacious attitude of a weekend day. I meditated, journaled, exercised and stretched before I let myself get lost in this indulgent experiment.

Throughout the day I kept an informal time log. This relaxed version of Laura Vanderkam’s powerful technique kept me focused, allowed me to celebrate after each activity, and ensured I had something to reflect on that accurately represented my day when considering the next Think Day.

What worked best was sequestering myself to an isolated room. It was different enough from my daily routine that I found myself imagining being cocooned in a creative bubble. I experienced the spaciousness of stillness and time.

I did find myself being ‘jolted back to reality’ at times; ‘Where’s my smartphone?” “Is anyone looking for me?” “Am I forgetting to do something?” And sadly, the weather was lousy. I wasn’t able to take walks, as mother nature had different plans for me.

I found myself pleasantly content and tired after this day of cerebral activity. As a bonus, Michael put together dinner, allowing me to keep my brain on “Channel Zen”.

My Retrospective of the Big Day.

I collected my notes on a variety of different topics and through different note taking techniques. I’d journaled, written sticky notes, added to my Q4 goals, and made notes in my Clever Fox planner. These were all individual thoughts recorded in real time. I journaled on the morning of Think Day +1, and then converted many of these ideas into actionable form for November’s iteration. What did I want to continue from my first Think Day? What didn’t work and warrants ‘stopping’ vs what I’ll start, having learned from October’s successful experiment?

Think Days 2023:

This experiment will repeat in its current form and format for November and December. Then I’ll decide how and if I want to continue with it. I’ve compiled all of the action items into a document and will enjoy prioritizing them and taking notes about what aspects have the most energy behind them.

Has this inspired you to try out your own Think Day? Let me know how I can support you in mentoring this experiment. I bet you’ll learn a whole lot, too!

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