Deep Learning Retreats

Every year, two of my best friends and I take a stand-up paddle-board trip down a river in Utah. This year's trip was scheduled for late April, but at the last minute as we were driving to our put-in, one of my friend's wives had a health scare, so we cancelled the trip and turned the cars around (all is well with her now). In the span of an hour, I suddenly had eight days with no plans, which, as a person who is governed by his brimming calendar, has never happened before. I had blocked the time off and requested vacation days, so I decided I wouldn't just go back to work. Instead, I kept my email autoresponder on, and chose to turn the week into a solo retreat focused on deep (non-Uncharted-related) learning.

I found a small Airbnb in the desert outside of Taos, New Mexico and built out a specific learning agenda for my time. I spent the time in deep learning mode: synthesizing learnings from books I've read into notes and summaries, taking two online courses, listening to podcasts by futurists, developing a memo on first-principles thinking, reading poetry, and walking the dirt road outside my cabin, inhaling and exhaling in slow, pensive rhythm. Initially, I was disappointed about the change in plans (I love river trips), but this deep learning retreat was one of the best things I have ever done. I learned more, wrote more, and produced more creative work in one week than I have in 6 months. If you've done a deep learning retreat, I'd love to hear about it.