214: How to Create the Time and Space You Need to Think Bigger

Welcome to the She Thinks Big! Podcast. Get ready to level up your thinking and expand your horizons. I’m your host, Andrea Liebross, your guide on this journey of big ideas and bold moves. I am the best-selling author of She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary.

I support women like you with the insights and mindset you need to think bigger and the strategies and systems you need to turn that thinking into action and make it all a reality. Are you ready to stop thinking small and start thinking big? Let’s dive in.

Hey there, my friend, my friend, where are you? Are you riding in the car? Are you on a walk? Are you emptying the dishwasher? I do really want to know this in 2025. I want to know where you are listening from because if you are like me, you don't really have tons of “free time” and you're probably most of the time, at least during the week, trying to do two things at once, which might be listen to a podcast and fold the laundry. I want to know what are you doing?

But I'm happy you're here because together today, I want us to think about, I want you to think about, because I've already thought about this, and this is why I'm going to share you my thoughts, but I want you to think about this concept of retreating so that you can advance. This is like a heart-to-heart between you and me kind of discussion. I think if you can grasp this concept, it is going to be a game changer.

I'm going to give you a couple of ways to make it a game-changer. This topic today is about retreats. But as the women in my mastermind and I discussed in November when we were in Tennessee, we really shouldn't call a retreat a retreat, we should call them an advance.

I want to ask you when was the last time that you really gave yourself permission to pause, to step back, to get out of the day-to-day, the grind, and to really think about where you want to go as a human and as a business owner and as a CEO. If you're like most people, the answer to when was the last time was probably not recently enough.

This is different than going on a tropical vacation. This is different than going on a walk. This is really dedicated time for you to pause out of the fray. The truth is, when you can't kind of get to that next level or create a breakthrough or figure something out, you're probably stuck in a grind and growth does not really happen when you're busy running from one thing to the next.

It really only happens when you take intentional, what I like to call strategic pauses. There's a lot in the book about this too, strategic pauses. These are those moments, those days really, and I'm going to say days, where you can reflect, where you can reassess, where you can recharge. That is what a retreat in my brain is all about.

That's really why I am passionate about retreats, why I include them, two of them, two of them over multiple days in person in my mastermind. I want to paint a little picture for you. I want you to imagine. Close your eyes. You might have to close your eyes. Don't close your eyes if you're driving, but close your eyes. I want you to imagine if you could step away from the “noise” and kind of the hustle just for a few days without your family and with other women who are trying to do and doing the same thing as you are.

If you could step away and have space to really focus on yourself and your goals, I want you to picture that. I'm going to tell you, here's what you're going to come back with, clarity about what truly matters to you. That's a huge one. My clients, when we go on these retreats, they always tell me, “I've figured out what really matters and what I should be focusing on.”

Number two thing that they come back with are strategies on how to use their time, what feels aligned with who they want to be in this kind of chapter of their business or their life, and then the third thing that they walk away with is motivation. What makes you excited to take action? That's what happens when you give yourself the gift of a retreat, i.e. you don't retreat, you advance.

Now I'm going to tell you a little story. One of the women in my mastermind, I'm going to call her Samantha. Right now I'm not working with any Samanthas so I'm giving this person a fictitious name. Samantha really experienced this firsthand. She came into our last retreat feeling stuck like she was spinning her wheels but not actually getting anywhere and by the end of our three days together, she had a clear plan to restructure her business, not to do anything new but just to shift, to turn the dial.

Within a month, she implemented a few new systems that freed up hours of her time every single week, and this didn't occur, her finding this time didn't occur through some magic potion or luck. It occurred because she gave herself the time and space to think and plan and act with intention.

Now, let me also tell you something. Samantha, let me tell you a little bit more about her, getting to the retreat was not easy for her. It took a lot of effort. She had to coordinate who was picking up and dropping off her kids. She had to get the dog to the kennel. She had to leave her husband, a detailed list, I used to call it a Bible, of instructions on what happens on a Thursday afternoon in her family.

Let's just say he was not thrilled about taking on these "extra responsibilities." I know they are his kids too, but that's how he felt. By the time she got to the retreat, she told me that she had run a marathon just to make it happen. But once she got there, everything had shifted.

I mean, this is real life. For you, you might have to tell your husband to do some extra things. You probably would have to make arrangements for something or someone. You would have to worry about everybody that they were ready for all the things. You might even have to send the grandparents to the band concert and explain to them where to park in which door of the school to go into. I've had to do that.

But the thing, my friends, or the thing for you is that we need this. You need this. When you get to a retreat or when you retreat, you dive into the work that you're doing. You reflect, you set goals, you map out the plans, whatever that is, and you feel that incredible sense of relief and purpose.

But Samantha—and I'm going to guess this is going to happen to you because it happened to me—when you get home, you are met with comments that make your blood boil, like your spouse saying, "Oh, it must have been nice to have a little getaway."

If you're like me, if you are like Samantha, because she told me this, she felt frustrated because she just doesn't get it. None of her friends even get it. This retreat was not a vacation, it was an advance. We laughed and we had fun, believe me, but we also worked hard.

That work gave Samantha and me the clarity and competence that I need to move forward. As Samantha put it, this wasn't just a getaway, it was the space that she needed to advance. Now maybe you've felt that way too. The people around you don't understand why you need this time for yourself.

I have been doing these retreats now for almost, I have been attending one myself for probably five years now and my husband still says the same thing, “How is the vacay?” It is not a freaking vacay. But here's the thing, you don't need his approval. I don't need my husband's approval or permission. You just need to set this time for you.

Now, I get it. Maybe heading off for three nights is not in the cards for you right now. That’s okay, you can start small. You can create your own mini-retreat. You can block time on your calendar. You can choose what you want to focus on. You can eliminate distractions. You can rate things down.

Even if you started with giving yourself a Friday afternoon to think about what's working, to brainstorm on new ideas, or to plan for the week ahead. Doesn't that sound powerful? Doesn't that sound like you're going to advance or move forward? Now, again, I know your life is busy and you probably don't feel like you have the time to even pause for two hours on a Friday afternoon, but this is totally true.

If you don't make time to reflect, you risk burning out. You end up chasing goals that don't even align with what you truly want. They're kind of made-up things or things that sound good. I've been there. I know it is not easy, but if you don't create the space to think, who will?

Now, I do this for you in a sense by inserting retreats into the Mastermind. I'm guiding you there, but you've got to get yourself there. I can't have that conversation with your husband. This is where lifestyle design kind of comes in. You might have heard me talk about lifestyle design before, but this is where you really get to decide and choose how you want to spend your time.

Here's my question for you this week. Are you living the life that you want, or are you just reacting to whatever's in front of you? If you answer that by reacting, I want to challenge you to take back control this year in 2025. I want to challenge you to start small, to do that two-hour weekly retreat where you can ask yourself three simple questions.

What went well this week? What didn't go as planned? What can I learn from it? Then the third thing is, what's one thing that I want to focus on next week? I do this every Friday, and it's been a game-changer for me. I do this annually, twice a year, on my retreat that I attend as the attendee.

I ask, “What went well over the last six months? What didn't go as planned?” I ask those questions but with a bigger time frame in mind. If you want this for yourself, if you want to advance, my friends, you need to retreat, and getting your nails done, getting a massage, and walking around Target by yourself, those are not really what I'm talking about for retreats here. I'm talking about space and time to think.

I want to invite you—this is from the bottom of my heart, this invitation—I really want to invite you to something special. Twice a year, as I've mentioned, I host these retreats for my Runway to Freedom Mastermind. Now they are not getaways. They are not little vacays. They are really experiences that change you. They're experiences where you can reflect and strategize and leave with a clear head and a plan.

Now you're also going to leave with lots of thoughts. But you are going to leave with information, knowledge, and clarity that's going to help you advance. Our next retreat in the Mastermind is in the beginning portion of April. I would love for you to be there.

If I could send everybody who's listening to a personal email inviting them, I would, if I don't know your email address, send it to me at support@andrealiebross.com or go to the website and sign up for the newsletter. But better is to just send it to me and say, “I want a personal invitation for the retreat.”

Send an email to support@andrealiebross.com in the subject line, put “Retreat invitation,” and I will send you a personal invitation. We also can chat about this. What does it look like for you? Is this the right thing for you at this time in your life, in your business, and in your CEO journey?

You can go to direct messaging, or you can go to andreaslinks.com and schedule a call. I'm going to help you see if this is the right fit for you. You do deserve this. Big changes don't happen by accident. They really do start with some intentional action like this.

Whether it's a two-hour mini-retreat on a Friday, or it's three nights and two full days in April with me, give yourself time to pause, to reflect, and thus to advance. All right, now I don't know where we are. Did we get to Target? I want to know. Did we go on the walk? Let me know.

But thank you for spending the last 20 or so minutes with me. I am here cheering you on. I believe in you more than you believe in yourself. I can't wait to see what you create in the coming months. Until we go on another walk or car ride together, keep thinking big, and keep showing up for your life, you deserve all of this. Big hugs. Go level up. It’s time. See you next time.

Thanks for tuning into the She Thinks Big! Podcast. If you're ready to learn the secret to unleashing your full potential, don't forget to grab a copy of my book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary. It's available on Amazon and at your favorite bookstore.

And while you're there, grab a copy for a friend. Inside, you'll both find actionable strategies and empowering insights to help you navigate the complexities of entrepreneurship and life, and step confidently into your extraordinary future.

If you found value in today's episode, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. And if you're ready to take this learning a step further and apply it to your own business and life, head to andreaslinks.com and click the button to schedule a discovery call. Until next time, keep thinking big.