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Think Week This week's trek is inspired by the work of Colonel Eric G. Kail who served as Director of Military Leadership at West Point. How often do you take time to reflect on your big picture goals and ambitions? Kail argues that reflection is critical for any leader as it is "what links our performance to our potential." He goes on to say that when we don't reflect, "we engage in a narcissistic rationalization that makes us feel better about the events in our lives" instead of encouraging us to learn from them.  Leaders like Bill Gates regularly carve out time for reflection and deep thinking. In fact, Gates has been known to take a think week twice a year to ponder big trends and long-term goals.  Introducing Your Think Week Exercise What It Is A 20-minute exercise that gives you a chance to look back on the past year to determine what themes you want to carry on into 2019 and what you want to let go of next year. Why We Love It  There are tons of formal ways for us to reflect on our performance at work through things like feedback sessions and performance reviews. However, we don't always take the time to do the same for ourselves. This exercise turns the end of the year into prime time to reflect, evaluate, and revise our goals for the year ahead based on what we learned from the past 12 months. How It Works 1. Carve out 20 minutes with your favorite notebook and pencil and jot down your responses to following: Looking back on the past year, what three things are you most proud of? What are some of the biggest lessons you learned or hurdles you tackled over the past 12 months? 2. Based on your answers in #1 what is one big theme, goal, or emotion (e.g., love, grief, family, transformation, health) that has continued to show up for you this past year? 3. Of the items you noted in #1 and #2, which would you like to see more or less of in 2019?  4. Given what you want to see more of in 2019, what is one overarching goal you'd like to focus on in the year ahead? What can you do right now to set yourself up for success in achieving that? Want to dig deeper?  For a summary of Kail's take on why reflection is so important, read this from the Washington Post. For some insights from the Kellogg School of Management on the benefits of reflection, check this out. For details on the biannual think week ritual that Gates is known for, read this from WSJ. Happy Holidays, LT! This is our last post of the year. See you in 2019! Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Click here to subscribe to the weekly email! Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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Greatest Hits of 2018 Feeling a little LT FOMO? This past year has flown by and, if you are anything like me, you might have missed an email or two. Never fear! We have compiled LifeTrekker's greatest hits of the year so you can close out 2018 without missing a beat.  Top 10 Treks of 2018 1. Baggage Check: A 15-minute gut check to make sure the beef you have in your current relationship reflects a real conflict and not just baggage from your past. 2. Awestruck: A 15-minute moment to infuse your week with a little bit of awe and, if you are lucky, maybe some goosebumps. 3. Boundary Setting: A 15-minute exercise to identify your work and personal life deal-breakers so you can set the boundaries needed to avoid line-stepping on each. 4. Daily Lineup: A 20-minute exercise to see how your day-to-day activities can better support your big picture goals. 5. Setback Bounce Back: A 20-minute exercise to help you recover from a setback in a productive way so you can identify key learnings for next time. 6. Dream Team: A 20-minute exercise to help you better understand the dynamics that might be making it hard to work well as a team. 7. Envy Advantage: A 10-minute exercise to figure out how to turn your feelings of envy into your secret weapon. 8. Tiff Tamer: A 15-minute exercise for you and your partner to tame a cycle of tiffs by creating more room for appreciation in your relationship. 9. Embodiment Exercise: A 5-minute physiological observation exercise to gather insights about your body's biggest sources of stress.  10. Feedback Champ: A 30-minute exercise to help you get better at receiving feedback so you can learn more about yourself and make the changes you need to grow  Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Click here to subscribe to the weekly email! Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.

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#Blessings This week's trek is inspired by the research of Yale Professor, Dr. Laurie Santos, on the science of happiness. How many gratitude-themed emails do you typically get the week of Thanksgiving? Take that number and increase it by one. Because, no shame, this email is on that train. I decided to risk dipping my toes into the sea of sameness this week because I was amazed to learn that Dr. Santos's extensive research has shown that one of the best things you can do to boost your personal sense of happiness is to take time to thank those that have been there for you.  So I crafted a quick exercise to turn the countdown to Thanksgiving into an opportunity to count your blessings. Introducing Your #Blessings Exercise What It Is A 20-minute exercise to show a little love for the people that have your back. Why We Love It  When we get busy we don't always take time to really acknowledge others for the amazing things they do for us. This exercise offers a chance to dedicate a few minutes this week to send some love to the people we depend on most.  How It Works A. Take 10 minutes to consider the following questions. Write down your response as well as the name of the person who comes to mind for each: 7. Who makes you laugh/smile? 6. Who is your biggest fan? 5. Who is the best boss you've ever had? 4. What's the kindest thing anyone's done for you? 3. What are the best qualities you learned from those that raised you? 2. Of the people you spend time with, who brings out your best qualities? 1. Describe an important teacher in your life - outside of school. B. Take 1 minute at the beginning or end of your day each day this week to write a quick thank you note to each person you identified above. We recommend writing just 1-2 sentences but if you want to do more, go get 'em gunner! If the person you think of is no longer in your life or can't be reached, take a few minutes to hold space in your thoughts for them. C. Have a blessed week! Source: School of Life Want to dig deeper?  For a summary of some of the major themes covered in Dr. Santos's well-being course at Yale, read this from Today. For more details on why a regular gratitude practice can be beneficial, read this from Forbes. Check out the last section of this article from Berkeley to learn about how gratitude effects the brain.  Here's what your fellow trekkers have to say about past treks: "I really liked the Feedback Champ Trek. I found it particularly useful as I reflect on my areas of development, which can be difficult to accept and action. Instead of being nervous I'm choosing to be excited - increasing awareness of my triggers, keeping an open mind and focusing on constant improvement."  - Jared Zlotnick, Group Manager, Google Marketing Solutions Tweet Tweet Email Us Learn More Copyright © 2018 LifeTrekkers, All rights reserved. Want more information? Drop us a line at info@lifetrekkers.me. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list.