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Building beautiful tech products in nature?

Every 4 - 6 months, I go on a week-long "mind" retreat to assess and re-calibrate the direction for my business and my life. I switch off my phone, take 5 - 7 books (ideally not related to the field/industry I am actively working in), important unread articles, and choose a destination that is remote, and in nature. This time I went to Zermatt, Switzerland.

Well, it didn't go as planned and I couldn't transcend into my meditative state. The retreat overlapped with the first-ever development sprint of my team, and I spent half of my days glued to our slack channels figuring out the best way to prevent us from tripping over before we even tied our shoelaces.

Nevertheless, I actually consider the retreat a success. I did manage to get some reading done, as well as some self-reflection. But what boosted this trip was the constant flow of ideas generated by the interaction between insights from books, podcasts, sleeve-rolled problem solving on our product and exposure to raw, unfiltered nature.

The ability to contrast and complement raw nature with digital technology has been unexpectedly powerful. I always thought that building a tech business could only be done whilst living in a fast-paced, idea-filled, investor and entrepreneur fuelled, 24/7 running megapolis.

Now seeing the focus I get from avoiding distractions that such a city creates and still being able to be connected to the pulse of technology with a remote team - I have been converted.

I want to continue living and building in nature.

Who has similar experiences? Who loves living and building in nature?

  1. 2

    I think this is a great idea. I have done it before, but don't do it as often as I would like. It's great to change up your environment and take some time to re-calibrate. Not as easy when you are trying to lead a development team haha.

    1. 2

      Totally get you @gordon! What if the team was fully remote?

      1. 1

        Yes I think it can work @DimaD88. I was referring to that fact it must not be easy for you as you were leading your development team while you were on your nature retreat. But it seems you managed to still make it work, so it seems to have been a success!

  2. 2

    Have never but now I’m definitely inspired to give this a try. I did one time take trip over to Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand for a few weeks alone after I left the startup I was working on for two years before that. It was a great experience but I was not in that kind of mindset, more like just feeling burnt out and looking for my next move. Definitely loved the time to myself to self reflect and get a chance to dig in to some books on my reading list. Solo travelling is definitely something to give a try

    1. 3

      Hey man! Thanks for sharing. Exactly. It's all about the mindset. I actually didn't set out here because I was burned out. On the contrary, I am starting a very exciting phase in my life. Furthermore, I am not backpacking or anything. I have a daughter and a wife. We have comfortable set-up.

      Ultimately, why I think it worked me: I gave up. I gave up figuring out thinking what and how I should be doing something because of X, and just gave in to my gut feeling, intuition, and embraced uncertainty.

  3. 1

    My house is actually natural enough to feel this. Building and connecting while overlooking a lake and hearing birds and taking in nature. Always good to lessen the separation.

    1. 1

      That is super cool. Where are you based?

      1. 2

        I live in the suburbs of Bangkok, Thailand

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