I’ve spent some time this week hanging out with Jeff Sandquist as he made the trek up to Victoria after, like me, being part of the World Domination Summit. One of the things we talked about over coffee was the experience he had there – which he wrote about here.
Then we talked about my experience there. Or rather, I talked about my experience there.
Unlike Jeff, this was my fifth WDS. I’m one of the two percent that has attended every single edition of the event. This year I took in many of the talks once again, but I also had a very clear takeaway overall: I’m far better at honing in on what I want than ever before, and this event is a big part of that.
How? Because it provides me a respite from the day to day, gives me some time to really be alone in my own thoughts when I want to be, and galvanizes me for the months to come. WDS isn’t just my recharge. It’s my reset.
As usual, there were some amazing speakers. The standouts for me – and why – were as follows:
- Jon Acuff
- Brad Montague and Kid President
- Jeremy Cowart
- Derek Sivers
Jon’s talk was aces. He was on point, humorous, and delivered the goods superbly. I’ve spoken to Jon before and much of what he said is aligned with my own thinking, but hearing it from someone else in a different way really worked for me.
Brad’s talk made me miss my kids, and also wanted me to do even more for them. It also made me want to pay even more attention to them going forward because there’s more magic there than I’m likely seeing. (He also made me feel even better about being a kid at heart.)
Jeremy’s talk was the most precisely delivered because it was designed that way. It was also incredibly powerful. Brad’s talk welled me up a bit; Jeremy’s talk had me in full blown tears.
Then there was Derek’s talk.
His talk was the perfect closer. It was simple and effective. It made me think, but not so much that it was too taxing (after all, it was the final talk over a two day stretch and energy levels were waning in some respect). The big thing it did for me was affirm some of what I’ve been doing here at Productivityist and confirm that there’s still more I could be doing. It also made me realize how far I’ve come and how much more I can go. The talk had a lot of blanks in its message that were easily filled by my own thoughts and feelings. It was the ideal way for me to wrap up my WDS experience.
Chris Guillebeau and the team that puts together this tremendous event haven’t wavered in the way they deliver the goods every year. I’m only scratching the surface about my overall experience; so much went on that it would take hours to write and would likely be diluted anyway.
Actually, one sentence can probably sum it up: I already bought my ticket for next year.
I was initially going to write this for The Productivityist Newsletter, but decided it was best to share it with all of you here instead. I also spent last week shifting away from MailChimp to ConvertKit, so expect to see some changes when this week’s newsletter is delivered. Not a subscriber yet? Click here and you’ll get exclusive, first-run content, a copy of my manifesto, and much more.
