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Published in · 4 min read · Sep 2, 2017
Yesterday I celebrated 1 year anniversary since completing a very intense and life-changing program created by Seth Godin called altMBA.
What is it for?
Each time this 4-week program is offered, 100–200 people from all over the world, explore the topics of leadership and entrepreneurship.
Each person practices skills necessary to become a more courageous and smarter decision maker. Each one receives and provides support to a vibrant community of classmates.
I feel very blessed for having had a chance to participate in the program and learning from talented, kind and brilliant people.
Last September right after graduation I felt tired, but very excited and inspired.
altMBA alums
Exactly a year later, I am writing to share with you that altMBA was just a start of this journey for me.
Shortly after graduation I (and the rest of my classmates) met virtually with about 500 graduates from the earlier classes. Over the period of the following year another 600 individuals joined this community of altMBA alums. Our continued communication and support created a lot of opportunities for collaboration and opened many new doors for each one of us.
It’s Your Turn publication
At the end of September of 2016 I was a part of a group of alums who created It’s Your Turn, the unofficial altMBA Medium publication you’re reading now. Our goal was to continue shipping projects and stories in the spirit of altMBA.
I am thrilled to report that in 11 months we went from a few editors and writers to a beautiful community of 290 individuals writing on the topics of leadership, entrepreneurship, marketing, personal development, education and wellness and whole heartedly supporting each other.
We all have a goal of bringing the message of personal and professional transformation to the world.
As a publication, we also went from having only a few readers (mostly our families and friends) to having close to 3,000 individuals following our work and sharing their feedback with us.
One of many personal lessons learned
You might be wondering why I am talking about this and what exactly does it all have to do with the topic of my discussion.
I lead a very “connected” life. The interactions between altMBA alums, writers and editors of It’s Your Turn are possible because of a variety of technological tools to connect all of us together.
I don’t know about you, but with time I find myself more dependent on my phone and computer. And having this dependency on devices in my life has clear downsides.
Last year after completing the program, and this year again I gave myself a word to have a mini digital detox during the Labor Day weekend.
We live in a busy world where communication is at the core of our existence — from emails, texts, articles, podcasts to videos, books, games and more. Some researchers even suggest that our Sundays or our rest days are dying. Others suggest that we drain our brain resources when we work too much.
In my search, I found 3 ways to unplug and rest and some important reasons for doing so.
1. Play, explore, laugh
When you get away, explore new things and places, and simply play, you become significantly more creative and even more productive, you build new connections in your brain, and you live a more joyful and happy life.
If you want to dig deeper, check out this TED Talk by Stuart Brown about the power of play or explore these Brene Brown’s and Shawn Achor’s books with some strategies to help you play more, become happier and enjoy your life.
2. Rest
Whether you sleep a little more this weekend, meditate, try a new yoga class (similar to this one a colleague of mine is teaching), downshifting this weekend will help you to recharge, rejuvenate and get ready for an exciting fall season.
3. Spend some quiet time with your thoughts
A few months ago, one afternoon as I was heading home and listening to a lecture, my phone ran out of juice.
I remember thinking that I need to recharge it immediately. The next thing that happened surprised and got me excited.
I found myself thinking deeper about what I just heard, putting the ideas together, and figuring out how I can apply them in my own life. I became much more aware of what was happening around me.
Within the next couple of days, I read a post from someone who stopped bringing her phone on daily runs, but used the time to think and decompress.
We get so much input from many different directions, that we simply don’t have enough time to process. Spending some time each week to reflect, unplug and relax is a gift that we should give ourselves to enhance our creativity, satisfaction, and joy.
