The purpose of this document is to outline some of the ground rules that we’ve found leads to the best outcomes on a Think Week — which is a full week dedicated to deep work. We’ve also included some strong recommendations, but these will vary depending on your working style, life situation, and self-discipline.

Why to Think Week?

It’s easy to miss the forest for the trees when you’re in execution mode all the time. I’ve found that a quarterly cadence to take a week to disconnect from the hyperactive hive mind and think strategically plays an important role in making sure we’re on the right path.

It usually takes me 2-3 days to really be able to zoom out and start thinking about things holistically. It’s one of those weird things where I often find myself rescheduling or justifying putting it off… but as soon as I do it, I think, “Man, I should have done this sooner,” because it very often completely changes our focus as a business.

As a point of reference, I spent a lot of time on strategy. I’ve written hundreds of pages of strategy memos for Levels over the last several years; I spend more time on strategy than any other CEO I know… and yet, in reality, I only spend about 5% of my time on company strategy.

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So if I’m spending only 5% of my time on strategy, I’m willing to bet that most CEOs are spending less than 1% of their time on strategy. That’s bad. And I’ve found that Think Weeks are a good way to ensure that at least some amount of important strategic thought gets done.

Rules

These are the rules that everyone needs to agree to; they are the non-negotiables.

• Headphones in means “do not disturb”
  • You don’t need to break flow just because you make eye contact with someone during a Think Week. We’re optimizing for deep work and flow states.
• All social events and group meals are optional
  • Sometimes, there will be a few people who finish working around the same time and choose to have a meal together. There is no expectation that you or anyone else joins lunches, dinners, or anything else. Think Weeks are not a group social event.
• Common space is quiet space
  • If you need to take calls, or if you want to talk through an idea with someone, do so in a location that won’t disturb others working in a common space (like a living room). Most people will be in deep work-mode for the majority of Think Week, and list

Recommendations

These are the things that we strongly encourage, but it’s up to you on how you want to spend your time.

• Bring noise cancelling headphones
• Bring your focus goggles
• Keep your phone on “do not disturb” mode for the duration of Think Week
• Don’t access your communication tools (e.g. Slack, email).
  • In fact, we recommend logging out of these tools entirely at the start of Think Week.
• Ensure that you don’t have any meetings or calls scheduled during the week
• Manage “out of office” anxiety so you can stay present
  • Delegate someone on your team (A Chief of Staff? An EA? Your COO?) to be the point of contact in case you’re urgently needed. This allows you to know that, if you’re really needed, you’ll get a call.
  • Set an “out of office” message on your email that refers them to someone on your team they can reach out to in the event something is urgent