How to do a Think Week by Bill Gates, a method for yearly reflection and innovation

Xue Mei Rhodin
Jan 1
9 min read

Think Week, a method for yearly reflection and innovation. Article by Xue Mei Rhodin

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, has been practicing "Think Weeks" since the early days of the company.

The tradition of Think Weeks started in the early years of Microsoft in the 1980s when Bill Gates was still in his 20s. As the company grew rapidly, Gates realized he needed dedicated time away from the daily distractions to really focus on long-term thinking and strategic planning.

He began taking two week-long "Think Weeks" every year, usually in a remote cottage in the Pacific Northwest. During these periods, Gates would isolate himself with no visitors, no meetings, and minimal communication with the outside world.

Instead, his days were filled with reading, analyzing industry trends and data, pondering potential new product ideas, and mapping out Microsoft's future direction. He would pore over literally hundreds of pages of memos, reports, and other reading materials curated for him by his team.

The insights gained during these Think Weeks are credited with shaping major Microsoft initiatives like the company's internet strategy in the 1990s and its transition from desktop software to cloud computing in the 2000s.

Even after stepping down as Microsoft's CEO, Gates has continued the Think Week tradition as a means to devote quality time to his philanthropic work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

By intentionally scheduling Think Weeks for over 30 years now, this bi-annual method has been a core part of Gates' renowned work habits and is seen as a key ingredient behind his ability to consistently innovate and stay ahead of the curve.

I have written an article that goes into the tools, books and strategies for making the most out of your Think Week, based on my own experience doing them since 2012.

Read it on xuemeirhodin.com here: My experience and strategy for doing Bill Gates’ Think Weeks since 2012: A distraction free method for comprehension, evaluation and synthesis

Here are some of the key benefits Gates has cited from his regular Think Weeks:

Focused Thinking Time: Gates used his Think Weeks to escape the daily distractions and interruptions of work and dedicate substantial time to think deeply about important issues facing Microsoft. This allowed him to concentrate and be more strategic in his thinking.
Exploration of New Ideas: The uninterrupted solitude of Think Weeks gave Gates the mental space to explore new ideas, emerging trends, and potential business opportunities for Microsoft. Many of Microsoft's pivotal innovations and strategic moves stemmed from insights gained during these Think Weeks.
Reading and Learning: Gates is an avid reader, and Think Weeks provided him dedicated time to pore through books, research papers, and other materials related to technology, business, and areas of personal interest. This continuous learning helped him stay ahead of trends.
Long-Term Strategic Planning: Away from daily operational concerns, Think Weeks allowed Gates to step back and thoughtfully plan Microsoft's long-term vision, strategies, and priorities for years or even decades into the future.
Problem-Solving: The quiet reflection during Think Weeks helped Gates tackle complex problems and challenges facing Microsoft by allowing him to approach them with a fresh perspective, free from the usual constraints and pressures.

What is a Think Week?

A Think Week is a method for creating a focused time limited 7-day retreat for oneself to be able to read, learn and develop new insights as well as solve problems and evaluate one's progress throughout the year.

It is usually done 1-2 times a year to create continuous development and evaluation.

It is usually done alone or possible with a business partner or collaboration partner or maybe a spouse if they have the same motivation to work on their development as well.

If you are familiar with my Goal Plan Session (my method I have developed over the last 19 years for setting goals based on neuroscience, data and testing), and have been to my previous workshops learning the Goal Plan Session method, this is a perfect time to do your yearly start session for your Goal Plan. Immersing yourself in the process fully during a Think Week creates a very strong mental and emotional bond to your goals and your evaluation process and will give you even deeper insights into how to progress in the 12 chapters of life. If you are interested in being coached in goal setting for yourself or your team by me, send me an email and I’ll show you the process and what workshops and 1-1 coaching entail.

You can also sign up for my newsletter to get notified when I release my coming book that will describe the whole Goal Plan Session method as well as added exercises to do throughout the year of your process to improve self-insight, self-reliance and progression on your goals. SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER HERE

Here is the structure of a Think Week:

Schedule it:

Dedicate one week every 6 months or annually to focus solely on strategic thinking, removed from daily operations. Have it scheduled far in advance to make sure other people do not try to push their agenda and lack of planning into your Think Week and therefore interrupting your deep thinking and focus.

Find a Secluded Location:

Choose a private, distraction-free place like a cottage or cabin away from the office and regular life demands. Booking an apartment or house or hotel room in a remote village also works just as well in my opinion.

Prepare Reading Materials:

Compile a comprehensive reading list on topics, trends, data relevant to your work/industry. Don’t rely on having good downloading speed to be able to access it once you are at your location. Make sure it’s available offline for you in advance. That way it’s more distraction free.

Disconnect, log off and put the “out of office” sign up:

During the Think Week, strictly turn off emails, phone calls, meetings and notifications - disconnect from the outside world as much as possible.

Think Big:

Use the solitude to deeply ponder big-picture questions, reassess priorities, explore new concepts and formulate long-term visions/strategies.

Take Walks:

Build in periods of light physical activity like walks to stimulate creative thinking.

Capture Ideas:

Have a way to diligently record all ideas, revelations and action items that emerge during the thinking process.

No Distractions:

Avoid disruptive time wasters like TV, social media, internet browsing unrelated to your Think Week topics.

Post Think-Week:

Review all notes, recruit others to follow up on top ideas generated, and communicate critical insights.

Who can benefit from Think Weeks?

Anyone can benefit from Think Weeks. I think often when concepts like these are suggested from people like me who have been running businesses for over 19 years, been leaders in their field or who creates methods and write complex articles etc, it can make people think that Think Weeks, or my methods Radio Silence Weekends, is only for executive level leaders and business owners. This is why I always include examples for all levels of careers, from junior level to mastery level as well as how to use these methods for your private life.

I would argue that it would be even more beneficial to do for people who are not already by the nature of their professional role and experience do these types of planning, decision making or reflection processes. Do a Think Week if you are a student! Do a Think Week if you are a stay at home parent! Everyone benefits from evaluation, synthesis and analysis of the skills they are using in their career and private life and creating true mental and physical space for reflection and deep thinking.

Business Leaders / Executives

CEOs, founders and top leadership can use Think Weeks to step back and re-evaluate company vision, strategies, new initiatives.
Provides time for big-picture thinking often sacrificed in the daily operational grind.

Soon-To-Be-Entrepreneurs / Startups

Think Weeks allow entrepreneurs to pause and thoroughly analyze their business model, market opportunities, product roadmaps.
Valuable for brainstorming innovative ideas before getting too entrenched.
A valuable time for real critical thinking about the personal motivation and mission for starting a company.
Doing an evaluation of the risks with their own leadership style and what they need to be mindful of to be successful.

Experienced Entrepreneurs / Business Owners

A possibility to look at risks and competitions and come up with ideas on how to mitigate them in the future.
Assessing stability and how to create more stability in their company.
Look at ideas on how to replace themselves in the company and find good executives
Looking at Blue Ocean Strategy and trying to find ways to make their company irreplaceable in the market.

Writers / Creatives / Musicians

Authors, designers, artists can leverage Think Weeks to delve into their creative process distraction-free.
Generates new concepts, outlines, sketches by removing creative blocks.
Do creative 7 day challenges to undo blocks or develop peripheral skills in genres they haven’t dared diving into before.

Academics / Researchers

Gives scholars, scientists, analysts extended focus for developing new theories, models and analyzing data.
Aids in synthesizing information into publications, grant proposals.
Critically assess their ethical and moral implications of their work and the impact they want to have.

Career Transitioners

Those looking to switch careers/start a new venture can use Think Weeks for self-assessment and mapping future paths.
Processing the fear of the unknown that comes with changing paths and mapping out strengths and skills to counteract that.

Specialists / Senior Experience

Gives them an opportunity to look at future trends, methods and technology that might affect their industry, work process or product and create ideas on how to incorporate it.
An opportunity to test out new methods and processes and evaluate if they are beneficial to their work moving forward.
Critically evaluate their work and look at how to get better results and quality.
Time to synthesis insights and think about what ideas and innovation they might produce from it.

Students / Junior Experience

Gives them a mental rest from the stress of constantly taking in new information that they have little applicable experience in.
Gives an opportunity to explore which areas in their field of study or industry that they are naturally passionate and interested in and figure out meaningful topics to write their university essays about or that they dedicate extra time to develop deep skills in to better progress in their career.

Parents

An ability to decompress from the daily stress of parenthood and reflect on their goals, knowledge and strategies for how to raise their children.
An opportunity to read science based child development research and methods to expand their skills and toolbox as parents.
Gives parents space to consider their balance and self-care and how to act like good role models and embody moral and ethical values and a resilient and driven mindset in their children.

Xue Mei Rhodin Important Notes:

You've read an article written by Xue Mei Rhodin, international speaker and entrepreneur from Sweden, with more than 19 years in developing methods for personal development, leadership and business.

Xue Mei means "Plum flower in Snow" so for every article published on xuemeirhodin.com I add an image representing my name generated by a AI engine. Just for fun to see what it comes up with.

You'll find my finishing notes and further reading recommendations below.

If you wanna see my full list of work tools, equipment and what type of professional markers and archive-resistant pens I use, I have a full list that I regularly fill in with links here on my website.

What I think most people get wrong about Think Weeks

I think a lot of people minimize and underestimate the learning, reading and gaining insights part of Think Weeks. Many just say they do Think Weeks but what they really are doing is having yearly planning meeting somewhere with a view.

Think Weeks are not about planning your year and making a calendar.

It’s about breaking from that and going into a discovery, creation and insight mindset.

Half of your Think Week should be spent reading and listening to new knowledge, insights and trends to expand your possibility for new insights, ideas and a more innovative perspective.

Half of it should be spent synthesizing your insights into possible new innovations, processes and development for yourself and your professional role. As well as using the data and results from the last 6-12 months to critically evaluate your progress and choices and use that to form new insights.

It’s a Think Week. Not a Scheduling Week.

So if you are a manager who now got very excited about the idea of doing a Think Week for your team and think it's a great idea to "rename" your conference with the same planning meetings and corporate presentations into a "Think Week". Don't.

If you really wanna reap the benefit of a proper Think Week for your team, hire someone who knows how to do proper Think Weeks to help you plan them so that your team truly benefits from it.

Your Think Week is your space to really devour new knowledge and dive deep into articles, reports and books that you didn’t have time to contemplate fully during your normal work days.

Think Weeks are supposed to produce better ideas, insights about the future of your business and industry and ideas for how to innovate and improve to meet those future needs.

You are not only supposed to go away for a week and just listen to audiobooks passively, but actively take notes, write down your insights and thoughts and expand upon what you are learning.

Read my about my experience and strategies doing Think Weeks since 2012

I have written an article that goes into the tools, books and strategies for making the most out of your Think Week, based on my own experience doing them since 2012.

Read it on xuemeirhodin.com here: My experience and strategy for doing Bill Gates’ Think Weeks since 2012: A distraction free method for comprehension, evaluation and synthesis