Do you ever get away by yourself to think?

Life is busy. We’re getting through the week—work, kids, the spouse, the house, the yard—those things are a challenge, and we mostly end up with an unfinished to-do list.

We spend our days attending to the urgent matters, and we rush from thing to thing. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else.

In fact, when we do find time, we often fill it with mind-numbing activity like watching a comedy/drama TV show about a forensic anthropologist or a naval investigator.

When are we supposed to grab hold of the big picture?

When are we supposed to see the beginning, the middle, and the end and come up with a plan for getting from here to there?

When are we supposed to figure out what’s good for us? Our family? Our career? Our business?

Can we do it on vacation? Are we thinking about life while we sit on the beach? Are we contemplating the big picture?

Vacation might be good for some things, but is it a good place for introspection, planning, and thinking?

I suppose vacation time is thinking time for some folks. But for many, vacation is as hectic as the rest of life. Vacation is as likely to be relaxing as it is to be filled with the stress of managing 12 cities in 12 days or juggling two kids trying to drown themselves in the ocean or attempting to get lost in Disney World.

Vacation often isn’t a good time for thinking.

How You Can Find Time to Develop the Big Picture

Thinking is important. Yeah, it seems obvious, right? But when was the last time you did it as applied to your life? Are you using up all your thinking to solve the problems of clients and others?

When are you going to use your brain to advance your cause?

Here’s my prescription:

1. Book a room at a Hampton Inn. Find a cheap room near your home. Book it for a few weeks out when you have a free day on your calendar. Block the date now. Why Hampton Inn? Because there’s nothing interesting to distract you at the Hampton Inn—nothing at all.
2. Pack a change of clothes. You’re going to spend one night. Bring your stuff. Bring something for dinner. Pick up a sandwich on the way. Bring a legal pad. Don’t bring your laptop.
3. Check in at 3 PM. Go over there at the earliest check-in time. Get settled. Give your spouse the phone number for the room.
4. Turn off. Do not turn on the TV. Do turn off your phone. Sit quietly. Disconnect.
5. Start thinking. Take notes. See what comes up. The objective is to think. Let your brain go where it needs to go. For some, it’ll be about setting goals and priorities. For others, it’ll be about specific plans. Just let your brain go without all the usual noise.
6. Let it happen. Clarity will come, but it might not happen immediately. Boredom is a good sign. Anxiety is a good sign. Creativity is buried deep beneath all of that. Clarity doesn’t happen immediately. Don’t push, and don’t pull. Just let your brain do its work.
7. Do it some more. You’ll see something, you’ll feel something, and you’ll hear something—and no one can predict what it will be, least of all you. You may know it’s there but be unable to access it. You may realize you need more thinking time to get where you need to go. Just keep going and take notes. Today may just be the first of your thinking days. Let’s see what happens.
8. Go to sleep. Take what you’ve got and sleep on it. It’ll look different in the morning.
9. Get up. Go eat breakfast at the free buffet in the lobby (that’s my favorite part of the Hampton Inn). Don’t check your e-mail. Stay disconnected. Take your notes down there with you and review them. Finish up and come back to the room.
10. Get back to thinking. Sit in the room until checkout time. (Request a late checkout so you can go longer.) Keep thinking, planning, and writing. Things look different in daylight.

That’s it. That’s all you need to do. No agenda is required. You don’t need a plan. You just need to show up and do some thinking.

The agenda is already in your brain. There’s a part of you that knows what needs to be decided. There’s a part of you that knows what needs focus. The agenda is different for each of us, but it’s there. It’s all the stuff you know you need to think about.

Go think. Take the time. See what happens. I’ll be expecting a full report.

P.S. If you get the results you’re seeking, then consider taking it further. Bill Gates does an annual “think week.” Things have worked out for him.