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I
spent three days last week with a group of like minded
professionals who are in same business as I am. We help others develop their businesses
from mediocre to spectacular. We met to spend time working on keeping our own
businesses at a spectacular level. Even though the group consisted of specialists
from various industries and hailed from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, we all had common
problems to solve. Discussions
of software, hardware and selling techniques were common. Much information was
traded for saving time and money in our businesses. I have pages of notes
to prove it. I
am most intrigued with a planning concept that was talked
about at length. I have read and heard about it before. It's called the annual personal retreat. It is a scheduled
event for reviewing your personal and business mission statements, planning a
calendar for the next twelve months of your life and completing a vision statement
for the next thirty-six months. That last sentence reads like a tall order. That
is because it is. It
is tall like Mount Everest is tall. How in
the world do you expect me to get all of that accomplished when it is a daily
challenge to knock off six items on my to-do list? The
lure of the annual personal retreat (personal means alone, solo, by yourself)
is the uninterrupted time to get this project done. Without the thirty-six month
plan, a vision, we are all doomed to short sightedness. Being able to see as far
as your reading glasses will take you is okay if you are comfortable with a life
of mediocrity. For
some of us, short sightedness is not good enough. The view toward the horizon
from binoculars is much more exciting and fulfilling. The
personal retreat allows for the necessary time to create
a 36 month vision. I have had days where I have felt my personal vision was
created for just the next 36 minutes. I suspect that the
first time I try this, the process will be uncomfortable.
I have a difficult time imagining the absence of telephone, cell phone, email,
fax or snail mail to distract me. Away from my normal
environment, there could be a few hours of writer's and
thinker's block to overcome. Once
I get over the solitary moments, I can see the enormous benefit of the head clearing
process. It's not a new concept, this idea of being alone.
People have been going on walk-about for thousands of years. It might work best
to try this out for one day and one night before I jump into the recommended three-day
event. I'll let you know how it works out. Better
yet, you try it and let me know how it works out for you. | 
