My wife and I just got back from a 10 day vacation in Paris, France with our 4 children. And I made a vow to her, to my kids and to myself that I will not go online during the entire vacation.
And I held true to my word (except for taking a peek at my email one time for 10 minutes on the 3rd day just to make sure there were no emergencies). But other than that, it was over a week of no Internet. No email. No facebook. No skype.
Let me tell you.. it was amazing.
Maybe you are thinking that is crazy. You could never spend 10 days being completely unplugged, but it was so refreshing…
I was able to TRULY enjoy being “present” with my family without feeling the impulse to glance at my iPhone. And my “mental batteries” are now fully recharged. I also never realized how often I would glance at my iPhone like a reflex (the first day I found myself just pickup up my phone for no reason.. then I simply put it down).
THE CLARITY
It’s hard to explain just how much clarity I had in regards to my business just be being disconnected. All I had was my handy-dandy composition notebook and a pen. And when my children went to sleep for the night, I started writing down all my ideas like a madman.
Copy. Hooks. New business models. Graphics.
You name it, the ideas couldn’t stop flowing even if I wanted them to.
Perhaps it was partly being inspired by the environment. The Eiffel Tower. Seeing the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. A boat tour on the Senne. Seeing all the artists at Montmarte. And even spending 3 days in Disney Paris cleared my head while eating one too many ice creams.
I truly believe if you want to unlock your creativity and your innovation… you must take time away from the computer.
My biggest ideas, with companies like FounderFly, always come to me when I’m AWAY from my computer.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Hey, I understand not everyone is able to hop on a plane to Paris to get “inspired” – but you can take mini-breaks in your week.
If taking a week away from the computer is too scary of a thought for you.. then start small.
Schedule in a 3-hour block of time once a week. No computers. Turn off your cell phone.. heck, leave your cell phone at home and commit to unplug.
Go for a walk in a park.
Take a long drive.
Go explore a town or neighborhood you haven’t seen before. Walk into the local stores and start conversations with the merchants (I love doing this). I’ll ask questions like, “hey, how’s business treating you?”. You’d be surprised how much small business owners love to talk about their business.
And once you can handle the 3 hours being “offline”, work up to a full day once a week.
Then eventually, a full week of no Internet.
It was one of the best things I’ve ever done for my family, for myself and yes.. even for my business.
Now it’s time for you to unplug, get inspired and change the world.
You with me?
COULD YOU GO A WEEK WITH NO INTERNET? COMMENT BELOW
P.S. Make sure you see why everyone is buzzing about FounderFly
P.P.S. Did you get your ticket to DotComXpo yet?
Completely agree my best ideas come to me not at the computer but whilst I am exercising or just hanging out on the beach with no laptop, iphone, ipad oh the list goes on. We have become the ultimate consumers of technology gizmos. I often end up in the biggest rut by searching frustratingly on the internet for how to improve my product, my next steps and which decisions to make next. It more often than not comes together in the oddest of places away from an internet plug in device. In fact some of my best ideas come to me when I am just hanging out with the kids on the beach or running around at the park. This may sound lame but my kids give me more ideas than sometimes I can offer them.
I agree Trish – my kids are an endless source of ideas and inspiration for me too :)
Ryan
Welcome back Chief Super Fly
Thanks Chris… it’s good to be back!
Ryan
Great post! People have truly lost the art of real creativity and spending quiet time in their own minds. ….
FYI FounderFLY is amazing, just signed up yesterday and the training video with my boy Yanik Silver blew me away, if that was the first one I saw I can’t wait to rip into the rest site.
Thanks to my buddy Chris Verrone for putting me on you.
Hi Daniel,
First, welcome to FounderFly… I’m glad you are enjoying it.
And yes, the quiet time is essential for everyone – especially entrepreneurs.
Rock ‘on,
Ryan
Good for you, Ryan! Glad you had a relaxing time in Paris – it’s a beautiful city.
I try to keep weekends free of working on the computer, although I don’t always manage it.
Lately, I’ve been enjoying being able to work out and about with my new laptop – so I combine going for a walk, by the River Thames, with a visit to a nice cafe with wifi and a view of the river. I feel so much more creative when I do that, rather than being stuck in my office all the time.
I think I could get very used to being totally unplugged!
Getting unplugged on a regular basis is the only way, Ryan.
While you were in Paris (and I love the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, La Tour Eiffel, Montmartre, and the Seine), I was in Ocean City, NJ with my family… including our first grandchild, 11-month old Beckett.
Every time I’m with him he teaches me something. His “wonder” at looking at new things (entering the cold ocean for the first time, taking a finger-scoop of sand into his mouth, riding on the back of a bicycle, riding in the front of a boardwalk surrey, performing for my ever-present video recording, or just cuddling with me when he takes his before-bed bottle) opens my eyes to see life in a new light.
Getting away helps us focus. Science backs this up, but even if it didn’t, we feel a new vitality, perspective, energy for what we do… and what is important vs what is just mundane.
Though it’s not the same as getting away as your family and mine just did, I learned something years ago from a wise photographer who led me to the idea I call DPS: Dreaming, Planning, Scheming. Each week, with just an empty pad of paper, I get away from my office. Sometimes I have a specific project in mind and sometimes I just want to see what pours out of me.
And it’s not just having the pad – I have pads EVERYWHERE (above my head in bed, next to where I shave, at the seat at the kitchen table, next to my place where I relax to see mindless TV or a sporting event). It’s the getting away, taking the time, letting things pour out of me.
And it’s a pad and not my MacBook Pro – something about the connection between writing longhand and the brain is hard to beat.
The trick is to schedule this and set a defined time. Two hours is usually mine – one isn’t enough and three is too much. Two hours seems ENDLESS the first time, but after that it zips by and you’ll wonder how the time went so quickly. (And believe me, other than my family needing me for an emergency… and they have my private cell number… NOTHING is THAT important that I can’t be away from emails, the phone, or our staff for two hours!)
So I’m with you, Ryan. Getting away for a week or 10 days or getting away for a couple of hours to dream, plan, scheme about how I can help people even more, as I build our business, is vital.
And what joy it brings me every time I do it.
A bien tot, Ryan.
Charlie Seymour Jr
http://UltimateAutomatedSalesMachine.com
Charlie,
I’m glad you were enjoying time with your grandchild.
And I agree with setting aside the quiet time.. with the pad and pen!
Ryan
Great thoughts, yes it is easy to get caught up in the fervor of running an online business it is sometimes difficult to find that freedom of mind and its that freedom that helps us create and generate new products and services that really reach out and effectively help people.
I sometimes take a drive just to clear my mind, of course it helps to live in a rural area where most people don’t bother stopping at a stop sign because most of the time if you don’t see someone at the cross roads that means no one is on the road, except for Betsy the cow, watch our for her…
That is what I hope to create for my clients, that freedom to find the answers to the questions they have, what do I love to do, how can I make money, how can I make my business more profitable.
These are the real questions that need answers in life.
Thomas,
There’s nothing like a good drive to clear your mind. One of my favorite “by myself” times.
Ryan
Hey Brother! Great to have you back! Love your post! About 6 months ago I ditched my cable and internet at my house so when I’m here it’s like a vacation. And true to what you said, I have had my best ideas when I am ‘unplugged”.
Hey Billy,
We didn’t watch any TV the entire 10 days.. and it was amazing!
Ryan
Great thinling
Thank you Tony.
Ryan
Ahhh You are SO right!! I have the advantage of living, full time, on the French Riviera!! But I’ve hardly been to the beach or the mountains at all this summer. As matter of fact, I have a date with my son in an hour to spend the latter part of the afternoon alternating between swimming in the sea and sunning (only a little – gotta watch out for those rays). I must have heard you before you wrote this – it was already in my planning “to take a break”!!
Sounds incredible Sandra.
Enjoy every moment…
Ryan
Thanks Ryan! I just can’t wait to get away with my wife to a cottage at the end of September for a week. Hiking and canoeing during the day , roasting marshmellows at night taking in beautiful sunsets!
Warmest Regardfs
Mike
Love it Mike.
Ahh… remember the days BEFORE the Internet? Roasting marshmallows are definitely one of my favorite things to do!
Ryan
Yes time by yourself is so important. I love driving to the beach just to be all alone and think, it really does clear the mind and put things into perspective!
Thanks for sharing Alistair.
And keep on rockin’
Ryan
when I take a break all day, is just in this moment when the magic happen, and the ideas come to my head.
thanks, now I’ll consider paris
You are right Isaac, that’s the moment when the ideas DO come.
And yes, I highly recommend Paris as well :)
Ryan
Ryan, it kind of refreshes me just thinking about the Paris landscape & Scenery. I haven’t taken a trip for a while but, I do manage to unplug regularly on weekends. I try to make this strictly family time and if no family visits (all grown up), then I just take time to myself.
After a weekend of internet absence, I do tend to come up with more brainstorming ides as you
mention and I couldn’t agree more that everyone should recharge at least once weekly!
Great advice my friend and thanks for it.
Ryan,
Great post
Unplugged… that’s the way it was in 1981 when I started my Media Buying Service, fresh out of college. No internet, No cell phone (let alone an I phone or Droid), no Social Media. We were highly productive WITHOUT all of the entrapments of technology and communication. We did business face to face, by land line and even mailed proposals. It worked. I built a Multi Million dollar company being unplugged.
Your post really got me thinking… here I am in the Caribbean . I come twice a year typically to my Home in Aruba and generally it’s a working vacation. (I know, WTF?).
I am Online, texting and using an I pad . Am I more productive today then I was in 1981? I really don’t think so. It wasn’t until I was in my 30′s that computing & mobile phones arrived as a mainstay in business. That was basic computing and only phone calls on a mobile device (Remember the Big contraptions we installed in our cars?)
The truth is, we really did not start “plugging in” until 1995 with my company.
As I look back the period of 1981 to 1995 was AS PRODUCTIVE (in a relative way – 1980′s dollar to 2012 Dollar) as the period of 1996 to 2012. Sure we have grown by leaps and bounds with technolgy and our business opportunities have expanded for sure… however, at the end of the day, the Personal Ingredients for success have not changed one iota. Personal Success factors have little or nothing to do with Technology, Technology only expands our opportunities.
The Moral of the story, UNPLUG whenever possible for the sake of your Mental & Physical health. It’s not doing us a SHIT bit of good to plug in 365 if we are not of clear mind and sound body… and e mail, I phones, and social media are enough to drive all of us to drink!
The moral of the story, UNPLUG whenever possible. I have
Hey Scotty,
Nice post.. and you summed it up great with this line…
” UNPLUG whenever possible for the sake of your Mental & Physical health”
100% agree.
Ryan
Hi Maurice,
Thanks for your comments and I’m glad to see you unplugging regularly.
Ryan
Welcome Back Dr. Lee!
Glad that you had a great trip-well deserved! I go to Atlantic City once a week either by myself or with a friend (go on weekends with the family) and I don’t go online at all when I am down there. It is so refreshing, both physically and mentally and like you, my best ideas come when I am down there or on the drive home. Thanks for reminding us that emotional wealth is just as important as financial wealth.
Regards,
Cory Bank
It’s good to be back Cory.
I haven’t been to AC in years.. oh the good old memories of the boardwalk :)
Ryan
Yo Ryan,
We just did 2+ weeks in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morroco. I was 95% unplugged and it was good. Some times are easier than others. I did see the world from another perspective. Travel also helps you understand what is good, missing, or needs to be created in your own area or country. I always grow my business when I return from traveling.
- JSE
Hey John,
Sounds like an amazing trip you and Kelli had.
I also love seeing the other cultures and how different it is (it’s amazing how much they love crepes in Paris!)
Ryan
I haven’t made a habit of this, but am now seeing the need for it. Thanks for the push Ryan! I am going to schedule an afternoon next week…
-Joe
Enjoy the unplug Joe and let us know how it goes…
Ryan
Awesome. Sounds like a good trip.
I’ve been enjoying FounderFly, BTW.
Quick Q, Ryan – and let me know if this is better for FounderFly forum – but I took Fri/Sat/Sun fishing trip this week, and when I got back I had over 800 e-mails.
My team took care of many of them, but there were so many “little fires” for me to put out that 10 days away just seems like it would be exhausting to dig through all the “to-do’s” upon returning.
I’d love to see a breakdown of “who” does “what” for you when you’re on extended vacation like that…
Welcome back, Ryan.
Glad to have You back!
I thought You’d love it and I am really glad You enjoyed it so.
I totally believe on charging batteries up away from the computer and the greatest ideas coming to You then.
It’s my turn now! I’m traveling on Friday to Switzerland for 3 whole weeks (on my own) to do the interneship in order to complete my Life Coaching Training.
No IM world for me for 3 whole weeks! :) I’m sure I’ll come back renewed and in “creating mode”.
My Kids and Hubby will have a wonderful chance to experience life without me -I’m sure they’re looking forward to it! :)
They will also learn (I hope!) that it is nicer to have me close by and handy! LOL :)
Talk to You when I’m back!
Love to Y’all!
I often have my best ideas in the shower – and sometimes the little room that’s next to it.
Thanks for the reminder that inspiration – like lightning – strikes when it’s least expected!
Nice.
I unplug one day and 14 hours a week.
To spend with God, my family and reading.