By: Christine Russell, co-founder 889 Yoga + Wellness Spa
Every once in a while (not often enough) I take some time to disconnect, power down and have a “Think Day.” It’s time to get out of the regular flow of business and my thoughts as an entrepreneur to make time to think. It’s a time for me to envision: not to work on or work in my business as I do every day. A mentor of mine shared this practice with me. He commits one full day per month.
For this time I try to situate myself in an inspiring place; this time it was outside in the sun with my dog. I begin with some inspiring reading, be it about yoga, spirituality, business or entrepreneurship. For this past Think Day I picked entrepreneurship.
Here’s a snapshot into what my “Think Day” (well, half day) looked like…
Consider taking a half-day and dedicating it to thinking about what you want to think about. For me I wanted to think about 889. For you it might be work, it might be spirituality, it might be a path you are considering. The subject for me is always different, and usually it ends up being a blend since my work flows right into my life and vice versa. This I believe to be a great blessing.
So how do you do it? Here are some steps:
1. Schedule it in your calendar and don’t delete it.
2. Find somewhere you can be alone which is inspiring.
3. Power down. No work. No internet. No Facebook. No Instagram (that one was hard for me!!). Nothing that will distract you.
4. Begin with something that inspires you – a book, an article, a story, a photo, a meditation.
5. Begin writing – let it be free. Don’t try and control it. Most of the things you write down you won’t use or manifest or ever think about again, but some things will literally JUMP OUT OF THE PAGE AT YOU!!
6. Don’t judge yourself
7. Approach this with ease. There’s no such thing as a ‘bad’ think day!
8. Be positive and be in the flow…
9. Bring things that keep you inspired: music, coloured markers (these were definitely missing from mine!), photos, quotes.
10. When you are done, circle some big themes arising for you. See if you can put some into an action plan.
11. Put your themes or actions somewhere where they belong for you. For some this will be in your notebook, or journal, or dream box. Put them somewhere you can find them again. This is the best part. I recently found a small piece of crinkled paper Emily and I had written some ‘Think Day’ thoughts on in February 2011 when we took some time to think about 889 and what we wanted to co-create, and when I just found this, almost every single thing on the piece of paper has now manifested. Powerful stuff.
12. Plan your next think day. Get it in your calendar.
Make it fun. This is something I really look forward to.
