Originally Published in February 2020

This week's topic is an amazing inspirational idea to supercharge your business. And it’s so simple and easy to do that you won't believe it.

Everyone knows Bill Gates. Some people may not realize he takes a week off every year to get away from everyone and just sit and read and think and come up with great ideas for Microsoft and his foundation.

He calls this his “Think” week.

So why not do the same for your business. Now I know everyone is overbooked and overworked and has no time. Sometimes, I feel the same way. But you can STILL reap many of the benefits that Bill Gates does. How? Just do your “Think” week one day or even just one afternoon at a time.

I did this last Monday (the 3rd time I’ve done this) and took a think afternoon down at the Chula Vista Marina. I came up with two amazing ideas to take my business to the next level. Here’s how I did it and here's how you can do it, too.

Schedule out your time when you have a whole morning or whole afternoon free. Find some place that is very relaxing and emotionally supportive to you. For me this is always down near the water. But you could go to a park or the mountains or out on the hiking trails of East County. Anywhere that will relax you and calm you is a good place to go. Bring a notebook or some way to record your thoughts.

Then just go out there all by yourself and find a comfortable spot to sit and relax. If necessary, you could even stay in your car as long as you felt the energy of your location. Ask yourself out loud the question you are trying to solve such as “How can I take my business to another level?” or “What can I do differently to make a big difference for my clients?”

Take a few deep breaths of the fresh air and just let your mind wander. You’ll first get a flood of random ideas that are mostly To-Do’s you forgot to do over the last few days. You can write these down, but they aren’t the stuff we’re looking for unless it was a REALLY important to-do. After 5 or 10 minutes, though, you should start getting all sorts of “big deal” ideas floating through your head. And you will be amazed at what you get.

Some of these will be ideas for projects you’ve been thinking about for months. Some will be the answer to a question you were searching for a month ago. Some will just be a realization like I had that my weekly videos were too boring and informational, and that I had to make them more EXCITING and INSPIRATIONAL.

Keep deep breathing, keep relaxing, and keep jotting down the random thoughts. Whatever ideas you get, some will certainly be answers to issues you’ve been searching for. You may even drift off to sleep for a bit. That’s OK. After a few hours you will probably end up with at least two or three breakthrough ideas that you can implement to change the whole trajectory of your business. You might even discover something a little more basic but equally important such as where you left those reading glasses you misplaced a month ago.

Now go and schedule time to have a motivational and inspirational “think” afternoon, and let me know what great ideas you came up with!!