August was a personal development bender

In August I was on a personal development bender.

A solo trip to Camelback in Arizona. My first-ever Powerhouse Women event in Scottsdale. Two full days with Abraham Hicks at home in Seattle. Back to back to back.

Trips, conferences, small networking events in between, workshops — the works.

The kind of month where you're collecting emails and downloads faster than you can write them down.

What you sometimes don't realize when you're at the event is that the takeaways don't land at the event.

They come afterward.

In the quiet moments. When you're all alone. No podcast, no tv.

When you're back in the mundane, normal, everyday life.

People kept asking me at Powerhouse what my biggest takeaway was. I kept thinking umm IDK. So then I'd ask them and they'd have one.

But for me, I didn't have some big epiphany at the event.

Not really....There was too much going on. Too many speakers, too many conversations, too much good stuff to catch it all in real time and truly let it land.

So I took my notes, knowing I wouldn't remember it all, but knowing it would all be worth it.

The morning after Powerhouse Women wrapped, I decided to have a slow morning before I headed home. So I got my piping hot decaf latte, opened my journal, and just… let it flow.

That's where it hit me.

Not staring at the stage. On the page. (Am I becoming a poet?!)

Alone by myself, no more fancy outfit, the morning after.

Then the week after that it just kept flowing.

Back in real life — Stella at my feet while I sat at my desk. I kept catching pieces of what I'd heard and going oh. There's the takeaway.

The best breakthroughs I had didn't happen at the event.

They happened back in the mundane day-to-day, days later, once the event was over and I was back to normal life.

And that's why you need to have quiet time.

Why you have to let yourself think. Have to spend time alone, go on a walk, head to yoga, or just sit in the car before you come inside the house to make the family dinner.

Because that's when it all clicks. Where you get your best ideas. Where the podcast finally makes sense. Where what your coach said clicks. It's when you get the downloads.

So this week, make the time for the breakthroughs and the downloads.

You don't need gobs of quiet time, but you do need at least some of it.

And after you do that, reply and tell me — what's the takeaway you finally got quiet enough to hear?

I want to know.

P.S. You'll never regret investing in yourself. The trip, the room, the quiet morning after — it all makes you better. And you’re the best investment you’ll ever make.