Hard to believe it’s October already!

That means that Quarter 4 has already started, and the year is almost over.

It also means that I just finished up my personal retreat that I do at the end of every quarter where I reflect on the previous quarter and set my intentions for the next 90 days.

But to be honest, it almost didn’t happen.

Things have been a little bit crazy between the currently running Obsidian University cohort, coaching middle school soccer, and having all 5 of our playing this year. There have been a few days where we need to have kids in 4 different places for soccer games at the same time 🤦🏻‍♂️ As a result, I wasn’t able to get away to Door County like I usually do.

But I did find another great place to have my personal retreat that provided the perfect personal retreat setting and ended up being only about 30 minutes from my home.

It’s called a Getaway House. It’s basically a tiny cabin in the middle of the woods. And it’s the perfect place for your next personal retreat.

Personal retreats are a great way to get clarity and momentum as you think about the next quarter, but they’re more effective when you can 1) get away from the places you normally go, and 2) get out into nature. Well with a visit to a Getaway House, you can do both without breaking the bank. There are about 25 different "outposts" located throughout the U.S., and you can view the full list on their website to find one near you.

(Pricing varies based on location and demand, but each time I’ve gone I’ve been able to find one for about $100 USD.)

You see, the trick to making a personal retreat work is that you have to have the right environment. Your surroundings should be conducive to deep thinking and focus, so you need to eliminate novel distractions. You have to cut out the clutter before your brain can really unpack things and provide the clarity you need to make progress on your goals.

You also have to have enough time to get to the bottom of things. My personal retreat process takes about 8 hours total, so I recommend if you’re going to follow it that you get away overnight if you can. The extra time pays off, especially when you get to the retrospective questions and ask questions like:

• What should I START doing?
• What should I STOP doing?
• What should I KEEP doing?

My entire 8-hour personal retreat process looks like this:

• Review Journal Entries (60m)
• Review Core Values (30m)
• Wheel of Life (30m)
• Review My Ideal Future (30m)
• Retrospective, Part 1 (60m)
• Break
• Retrospective, Part 2 (120m)
• Set Your Intentions (60m)
• Review/Revise Perfect Week (60m)

By going overnight to my Getaway House, I wasn’t able to do this all in a single day. So I did everything up until the break after I got there about 3pm and then did the rest in the morning before I left at 11am.

I found the overnight break helpful, and I found myself waking up with ideas and insights from my brain continuing to noodle on the Retrospective questions I was thinking about before I went to bed.

While my preference would be to get away for a little bit longer, the setting more than makes up for it. In my opinion, the Getaway House is a perfect location for a personal retreat.

If you want to see what my Getaway House experience was like, I recorded a YouTube video about the whole experience:

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But regardless of whether you use a tiny cabin in the woods, rent a hotel room, get an Airbnb, or something else, I highly recommend you try a personal retreat for yourself. It’s incredible the clarity and motivation that can come from a personal retreat. And if you haven’t done your quarterly planning yet, it’s not too late to make the most of your Q4.

— Mike

P.S. If you are going to use Obsidian for your personal retreat, I recommend you download my personal retreat template here. There's also an explainer video on that page that shows how it works.