What Are Think Weeks? (#37)

What Are Think Weeks?

Twice a year, Bill Gates disappears — leaving Microsoft, his family, and the city behind entirely to spend a week alone at a secluded cabin in the Pacific Northwest. No visitors, no calls, no distractions. A caretaker drops off two meals a day; otherwise, he's completely on his own with a stack of books and papers.

→ Related: Bill Gates' Reading Guide(#32)

He calls this his Think Week — dedicated, undisturbed time to read deeply, research, and think through new ideas without the noise of daily work getting in the way.

What Is a Think Week?

A Think Week is exactly what it sounds like: a stretch of time — often a week — set aside specifically to research, learn, and think deeply about a particular topic, free from the usual distractions of daily life and work. It's less about relaxing and more about creating the space to focus on something you simply can't get to in the middle of a busy routine.

Has It Actually Worked?

Genuinely, yes — this isn't just a nice personal habit. Gates' 1995 "Internet Tidal Wave" memo, famously written during one of these retreats, was a turning point that pushed Microsoft to prioritize building its own web browser — leading directly to Internet Explorer. Several other major Microsoft strategic decisions have traced back to ideas developed during Think Weeks over the years.

The idea has caught on beyond Gates, too — Amazon's Jeff Bezos adopted a similar practice, reportedly using a Think Week of his own to help shape Amazon's internal structure.

Is This Something You Could Try?

You don't need a private cabin to borrow the underlying idea. The core principle — genuinely disconnecting from daily noise to focus deeply on a specific goal or problem — can scale down to a weekend, or even a single distraction-free day, and still be genuinely useful.

Would you ever consider carving out time for your own version of a Think Week? Let me know in the comments.

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