100 Business Days Out: Day 36 - Quiet?

You would think that quiet time would come easily when you don’t work. Wow, I am finding just the opposite. And this is especially hard for me as what I need is just that…quiet time. I am very much looking forward to our summer in Rhode Island for many reasons but for this reason in particular. I need to change environments to take out the noise of meetings, running around, meeting requests, etc. What I need is the two plus months of just hanging out and not putting anything on top of that recreational time. I’m not sure how someone can retire in Silicon Valley. Every conversation at a Starbucks is about who is funding who and what their next idea is going to be. This does not lend itself to quiet time and without quiet time there is no thinking time. I was with the founder of Apture recently and he told me the story of when he graduated from Stanford and needed the time to focus on building out Apture, that he headed to Argentina and did the work from there versus here. Just too many distractions and noise here. Writers retreat to their cabins to finish the book or play. It all makes sense. There needs to be a retreat for those who are just looking for the quiet time for decision making. There needs to be quiet places where one just goes to listen to themselves and to God. Yes, I know, you could call that church. Regardless, in today's world quiet has turned into a luxury.