Search Results for: retreat

Another Tech-Free Retreat

September 12, 2022 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

I can’t tell you how much I missed doing a tech-free retreat this summer. I had plenty of time off this summer—I always do—but I had not done a real tech-free retreat until last week. For those of you who know me, you know what I’m talking about. For those who don’t know me, I have been doing tech-free retreats since 2016, inspired by Richard Leider’s book, Repacking Your Bags.

This is a day (preferably a full day 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) where I turn off my cell phone and do not check social media while I read, plan, think, meditate, and “retreat.”

For a number of years I used a friend’s office space downtown Waterville along the Kennebec River, but she sold it last year and I have been struggling to find a new place. I used the local library and coffee shops in the past but always wanted to find a cabin or camp on one of the lakes nearby. Well, I found one.

I spent Last Friday at a friend’s camp on Messalonskee Lake here in Central Maine. The weather was fabulous (although that is not a prerequisite), and I spent the morning on the camp deck looking over the lake. I watched a loon swim by and a fish jump as I began writing in my journal. The peacefulness of the day was helpful in slowing me down.

There is something special about these retreats. They take me away from jumping between tasks and wondering how I am going to get to the third task on my list. This day was about slowing down. After writing and thinking for awhile, I picked up a book recommended by a friend, The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith, and began my journey into his thoughts on what is important.

After a short break for a morning meal and coffee, I returned to the deck for more reading and writing on my retreat.

I forced myself to stop and look at the water and forest around me, thinking of my mother who loved our camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which looked similar to this camp. Mom could sit for hours and enjoy the moment. But I was always looking for things to do and struggled with sitting quietly and thinking. Not anymore. Now I relish the moments; but it took practice.

My day started with walking meditation which helps me focus and slow down. Most days, I take a mid-afternoon meditation break which helps me re-energize myself and refocus myself for the remainder of the day. This day was no different.

After taking some time to just reflect, I took out my editorial calendar and began planning my next 90 days. Turns out, I planned nearly six months of weekly emails and made numerous decisions about the kind of content I want to share with my followers. What a relief to get so much planned!

Journaling on my retreat — Selfie of me journaling on my retreat.

I know you are busy. We all are. But I encourage you to find time to slow down. Take a half day to turn off technology and let your brain think instead of react. Here is my blog from a couple of years ago, Tech Free Retreat and the Benefits of Turning Off the Tsunami of Information. If you try a retreat, please let me know how it goes.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and The Adventure of Finding Me in New Zealand. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from the National Career Development Association and the Mid-Atlantic Career Counseling Association’s Professional Contribution’s Award in 2020.

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Six reasons why I do a tech-free retreat

August 10, 2020 by Jim Peacock 1 Comment

My goal is to do a day-long tech-free retreat each month, inspired by Richard Leider’s book, Repacking Your Bags, and by my brother Mark who has been doing retreats for over thirty years. Each month I look ahead in my calendar to see what day works best. My brother takes any month that has a 5th Friday because there can’t be any “repeat meetings” scheduled on that day. I.e. “We meet on the 2nd Friday”… or the “3rd Friday of each month”.

This is a day I turn off my phone, computer, and ignore social media, so I am not “chasing the rabbit down the proverbial hole” every time something dings, rings, or shakes. I get up at my normal time, read the paper, eat breakfast, make lunch, fill a thermos of coffee, and then pack up my things and retreat to a friend’s office in downtown Waterville along the Kennebec River. (Thank you Jeri). I have done past retreats at a local college and also on the 3rd floor of our city library, but having a place that is truly private is important. There is something magical about being at her office space, away from my home, not at my desk, not in front of my computer, that creates space for me to do my retreat.

Here are my six reasons I do a tech-free retreat.

SIMPLIFYING

Probably the number one reason I do a tech-free retreat is to simplify my day. When I work from home there are so many distractions and things to do that constantly catch my attention, chores that need doing, sounds of kids playing, the mail truck arriving, etc… At her office, nothing is familiar.

The noises are different, the chair is different, it smells different. Perfect, time to simplify. My “monkey-brain” seems to slow down here.

THREE MONTH PLAN

I use this time to create a three-month editorial calendar. As many of you know, I write a weekly career email that goes out every Tuesday morning. One week I typically write a blog, another week I interview people on a variety of career topics, another week I might do a Facebook Live. Today is my day to take that 5000-foot view. It always feels good to have a plan laid out for the next three months and all I have to do is execute it. When I come home, I update the three month, dry-erase wall calendar I have. Now I can see what I will be writing about or sharing for the next twelve weeks.

10,000-FOOT VIEW

This is also the time I like to reflect on the bigger picture. The 10,000-foot view. Where do I want to be in three-five years? What areas do I want to revise, recommit to, or remove from my plan? One of my three-words for 2020 is “rebalance” and I am thinking about how to rebalance my work and leisure time.

It is hard to do sometimes working from home and owning my own business. This is the day that gives me the “space” to stop and think, which is nearly impossible to do at home with all the distractions. This is one of the most “freeing” feelings I get on the retreat…time to do what I want and when, and to look to the future.
[Me on top of Mt. Whitney, 14,505 foot view in 2012]

WRITING

Whether you like to write or not, the kinesthetic process of handwriting your thoughts is powerful. I happen to like writing. Most regular workdays, I begin by writing in a journal. Today, I will write more. For me, the handwriting forces my brain to organize my thoughts and to choose what is important to me now.

Sometimes I only write a few paragraphs because nothing is really jumping out at me, other days, I write more. On my retreat, I tend to write lots more. Because I have done my editorial calendar, I often have a couple of blogs kicking around in my head. I started this blog you are reading on my retreat. I started another one that will be coming out in September.

OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

I remember the first time I did a retreat. Yikes! The first couple of hours all I could think about was the text messages, emails, posts on LinkedIn, that I was missing. It took awhile on the first retreat to turn that “monkey mind” off. Now I look forward to my retreat day.

The key is getting out of my comfort zone and getting into the “stretch zone”. When we work with clients, we need to remember that there are actually three zones people can be in.

One is the “comfort zone” where not much learning or growth happens
Another is the “panic zone” where people are overwhelmed. There is zero learning happening here either.
The one in between I call the “stretch zone.” This is where learning and growth happens. We are out of our comfort zone and not in the panic zone, and this is where we can think, observe, and learn.

READING

Charles T. Munger said, “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero...”

Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay

I always have a book, magazine, blogs, or journals to read and it feels like there is never enough time to read them all…and there isn’t. But today at my tech-free retreat, I will take at least an hour or two to read. This retreat I read my current pleasure reading book, as well as three business magazines.

My challenge to you… try a tech-free retreat

Think about a day, or start with a half-day, to unplug and do the work we all must do to slow down. I call it the ‘tsunami of information’ and it comes at us all daily. We need to find ways to think and to “just be” in the moment. Do not be fooled by the fact that just because you are busy, it must mean you are productive. My tech-free retreat day is probably THE most productive day I have each month.

As the old Life cereal commercial said, “Try it, you might like it.” (Watch Mikey eat)

Want to learn more about taking a retreat? Watch this interview with three of us who take retreats and we talk about how and why we do them. INTERVIEW

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move and the recipient of the 2020 Kenneth C. Hoyt Award from National Career Development Association.

Sign up here to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You will also receive the career practitioners weekly email on a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.

INTERVIEW: Taking Retreats to Slow Down

November 20, 2018 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

How many things are on your “to do” list today?
How many times/day do you check your email and social media accounts?
Get control over your day again by choosing 3 things to do each day that “must get done” and then look at your list of 25 things.
Check your email 3 times/day…bunch them up so you are not chasing emails all the time.

And…consider taking a day, or a half day, retreat to slow down and rediscover your creativity.

Listen to this Peak-Careers Interview with three of us who have been doing retreats for a while now and learn:

What our typical “retreat” looks like
What motivated us to start doing them
What the benefits of doing them can be
and some advice & tips for getting started

Interested in this topic? See my blogs on mindfulness

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.

Tech Free Retreat

November 12, 2018 by Jim Peacock 2 Comments

Tech Free Retreat and The Benefits of Turning Off the Tsunami of Information

What I love about taking my tech free retreat day each month is the ‘cognitive dissonance” it causes me. An out of my comfort zone kind of ‘cognitive dissonance’. I leave the house as close to 8:00 a.m. as possible and drive to a friend’s office who so graciously lets me use it for my tech-free retreat day. And then it hits me – WHAM! It’s different. Feels different. Looks different, smells different. It will be a different day.

The cell phone is turned off.

I do not check emails.

I do not even look at any social media.

Here is an inside look at my most recent retreat. I hope you can see the value of doing this to slow down your life, to reflect, and to take that broader view of your work-life.

NEXT WEEK’S PLAN

My Tech Free day typically lands on a Friday which is when I craft my plan for the following week. My “To Do” list each day is only three (3) tasks. So I take the fifteen minutes to lay out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Monday looks like this.

Monday

1 ) At least 90 minutes working on my book

2 ) Finish my weekly email that goes out Tuesday

3 ) Draft the email to my connections in New Hampshire and Vermont and send

I find that three big things are about all I can get done in most days. If I do get through them, I can pick one item from the following day to work on. I also schedule three smaller items. These are things that just need a little time and effort and often doesn’t require much thinking. But without scheduling them on a day, they tend to stay on my To Do list way too long.

JOURNAL

The next thing I do is start journaling. Writing whatever comes into my mind. It mostly has to do with work but if something is going on in my personal life, I write it out. You’ll notice I am saying “write it out” which is because I do not do my journal on a computer. I spend enough time on the computer and find that the slower handwriting process is helpful in fleshing out my ideas. Writing forces me to take the time to actually think about what is important to me now, what is realistic, what are my priorities today. I will occasionally look back at the past few weeks and see if there are any trends or themes. My journal is often not very ‘heavy’ stuff. It is a journal that allows me to purge my thoughts out of my brain and to work on them.

SLOW STUFF

In between bursts of work I either go for a walk, meditate, do Qigong, or read, and in the afternoon I take a 25-minute nap. This nap was inspired by Daniel Pink’s newest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

Each of these activities is for the sole purpose of slowing myself down. Giving myself permission to be mindful and in the moment. The power of mindfulness continually reminds me to be present in whatever moment I have.

I always have a book or two I am reading but will sometimes feel guilty if I stop work to read most days. Not on my retreat day though. This is my day to slow down and read for a while in a book or a professional journal that has been sitting by my desk for a few weeks. Today is the day to slow down.

BIG PICTURE

I keep a three-month calendar on the wall in my office which shows me what is coming up, projects I have, and my editorial calendar on it. I always spend some time on my editorial calendar on my retreats. Looking ahead to what my blogs will be on. Who do I want to interview? What tips do I want to share each week? Webinars? Facebook Live? The better I am at looking ahead and planning the fewer crisis events I have to face weekly.

Being able to step back and look at the next 90 days helps me to conceptualize what needs to get done in the next 60 days, 30 days, week. I feel so much better when I have my three-month calendar up to date. I know that I don’t have to worry about my upcoming webinar for another 3 weeks. Whew! That feels good. But then I can see that my speech coming up in four weeks will need attention next week. All good stuff.

CREATIVITY

Growth happens with cognitive dissonance. When you are forced to “think” in a different way. When someone says or does something that challenges beliefs, values, and attitudes it forces us to ponder and wonder if there is another way of doing things. My tech free retreat day almost always causes me to challenge some beliefs. This challenge causes creativity. Changing things up by leaving my office/home and going someplace new and doing different things throughout the day helps me find different solutions. Solutions that I would not get when I am “peddle to the metal” all day like I am so many other work days.

I encourage you to consider taking a tech free day, or a half day, sometime soon.

This crazy world we live in and its ‘tsunami of information’ coming at us all the time is not healthy. Put your health and wellbeing ahead of technology and take a retreat.

Technology free retreat – What a great day!

March 26, 2016 by Jim Peacock Leave a Comment

On February 19 of this year, I turned off all my technology and took a “Rebalancing Retreat.”

Thanks to the inspiration from my brother Mark who has taken retreats annually for years and to Richard Leider, a ‘purpose’ expert who suggests in his book, Repacking Your Bags, taking a ‘technology-free’ day and to use that day to j u s t t h i n k…

My retreat was at a local liberal arts college in a remote room in the chapel tower. My view included the beautiful campus on top of Mayflower Hill in central Maine, to the east towards the coastal mountain range, and to the north up the Kennebec River Valley towards Quebec. Inspirational and fortuitous says my brother the priest. Below are some of my thoughts from that day.

I find myself reaching for my phone to check emails (I must have 20-30 by now from last night) or to send a text to someone… and I realize…the text can wait, it really is not that important they receive this text at 8:45 a.m.

[Read more…]

How I Choose My Three Words for 2022.

February 7, 2022 by Jim Peacock 2 Comments

A “Hat Tip” to Dick Knowdell and His Values Card Sorts.

Each month I look ahead to find a day I can take a tech-free retreat. I don’t always find one, but most of the time I do. This practice was inspired by Richard Leider in his book Repacking Your Bags.

I have written about my retreats before, but today I want to explain how I used one of my retreats to choose my three words for 2022. If you want to read about my retreats, check out these blogs. (Read)

This past December I had scheduled a tech-free retreat for December 22 when I would read, write, reflect, meditate, and hopefully choose my three words to guide me in 2022. I had one word that I knew I wanted. Balance. I have been looking at how to reduce the number of hours I work, maintain my business, and spend more time with my recently retired wife, my friends, and family.

My retreat is a time when I typically review my journal from the past year, looking for themes that might inspire me to discover my words for the upcoming year. It’s a bit of the “intentional serendipity” that I believe in—taking action and being open to discovering something by accident.

Then I received an email from Rich Feller letting me know that Dick Knowdell had passed away. Before I became familiar with Dick Knowdell’s work, I had used the Missouri occupational card sorts a bit. But when I was introduced to his Motivated Card sorts I was hooked. It was then that I added his values card sorts to my repertoire and created my favorite workshop called “The Magic of Card Sorts.” Dick was a large force in the career development field, always giving his time, expertise, and sharing his knowledge wherever he went…with a smile.

I decided to bring my values card sort with me on my retreat to see what might emerge for my words and also as a “hat tip” to Dick.

The first step in the card sort is laying out the header cards: Always Valued, Often Valued, Sometimes Valued, Seldom Valued, and Never Valued. Then placing the cards, one by one, into the column that made the most sense to me at that moment. Values can change over time and I was interested in seeing what may have changed since I did this values card sort years ago. Clearly my head was in a different space now as a 65-year-old and all that life has brought to me.

As I picked up each card and read the value on it, I processed what that word means to me and how it fits into the context of my life today, at work and at home. Placing it under a heading gives value to that word and its meaning to me. There is something subliminal happening as well as cognitively. I don’t completely understand it, but I do know it happens. As I looked at my values spread out on the table in front of me, I felt like it truly represented a bit of who I am and what is important to me.

But I still could not “see” a theme. So I decided to do another sort; one that I do with the Motivated Skills Cards but had never done with the values. I took the top cards from Always and Often Valued and sorted them into groups or themes that make sense to me.

That was when the magic happened.

It was here that I could see the importance of creativity and knowledge in my work, and I knew that I still wanted to keep working. I simply love what I am doing. (see the two groups at far left). The far right group starting with “practicality” also fits into my work life well as I love the independence of owning my own business.

Much of my motivation comes out in the middle column headed by the words “affiliation” and “community.”

Yes, I love my work and what I do.

But why? And as I thought about it, the knowledge, the creativity, the helping others, all felt like actual people to me. People I wanted to share knowledge with. People I wanted to help. And that is where the word “COMMUNITY” came from for one of my three guiding words.

Clearly that second column from the left, headed by family and friends, supported my first word of BALANCE.

But what would my third word be?

The words, “Fun” and “Humor” stuck out to me. What is it that I want to do with my family and friends…and with my work colleagues and network? Yes, to share what I know, but also to do it in a way that is fun, uplifting, creative, and practical. But it has to be in a fun way, a positive way. Something good to do each day and that adds value to my community. I thought about using the words humor or fun, and then realized that it had more to do with being optimistic or positive. And there it was, POSITIVITY.

What I like about my three words each year is that there often is an intersection between them. When I journal, I always begin with writing down my three words: Balance, Community, Positivity. I change the order and sometimes will create designs using them, but I always write them. When I do, it forces me to think about that word and how it might fit into my day.

Sometimes “community” means my professional network, e.g. doing a LinkedIn Live session or participating in my National Career Development Association volunteer work. Sometimes “community” is my family or my hockey buddies.

Balance is always challenging me to make sure that every day I play, workout, read, meditate, and do the work I love.

Positivity makes me smile and I think about what I could do today that will make a positive influence on me. I found a TedTalk playlist called “10 days of positive thinking.” It is a great list and I encourage you, to check them out.

If you have not stopped to look at your values recently, I encourage you to do so. What is important to you today and how will you manifest it?

And if you have any good ideas on how I can continue to build my positivity…I’m all ears. I know that my community supports me.

Read about My Three Words in 2022
◊ Balance ◊Community ◊Positivity ◊