As seen in LA Weekly, founder and author Josh Adler says distraction-free quiet retreats are launchpads for clarity and innovation.
Whether you’re a new hire or a ten-year industry veteran, you’ve likely had to adjust to the fast pace of the workplace. Meetings that must happen now. Progress that must feel better than last week’s in the team meeting. And the forced energy to push through when the VP or founder stops by.
Maybe you’re lucky and still feel that you can manage all of that plus your personal life well. But if you’re like most, a quiet revolution of change might be just what you didn’t know you needed.
Serial entrepreneur Josh Adler says embracing the silence, whether for an hour in a dark room at home or at a quiet retreat, can be the reset your brain and body need. Meeting the noise and the deadlines at work each day can be a slow drain that saps your creative spark, your natural (not caffeine-induced) energy, and your joy for the projects you care about. Stepping away from the hustle and into the void of silence can put perspective back into place and lower your cortisol.
When “Always On” Feels “Too Much”
Most of us have been there, at the end of a work week where our brain is tired. Not sleepy. Just burnt out. This is decision fatigue and it’s where the neural pathways that fly through decisions are overstimulated, leaving you in need of peace and quiet. The human brain is great at handling several important choices, but when it’s asked to make hundreds a day, it starts cutting corners, reacting instead of thinking strategically.
Adler hit that wall after a decade of nonstop scaling. Instead of pushing harder, he did something radical: he unplugged completely. No Wi-Fi. No meetings. No phone. Just ten days of silence in the mountains of northern Thailand.
“At first, every restless part of me wanted to fill the silence with something, anything,” Adler remembers. “But after a while, the quiet started to clear out what I’d been too busy to notice. I didn’t come out with answers. I came out with better questions.”
Those “better questions” became a turning point for how he ran his company and his life. Even if the mountains of Thailand aren’t your thing, you can find stillness in unplugging for an hour, right where you are.
Why Stillness Works
Science is catching up with what ancient meditation traditions have taught for centuries: quiet changes the brain.
Silence calms down the amygdala, the brain’s stress alarm. Cortisol drops. Serotonin and dopamine reset. The result is a boost in the brain’s neuroplasticity. This renewal allows for sharper focus and resilience.
The reality is that you don’t need to spend a week at a quiet retreat in order to feel the benefits. Simple, low-stakes experiments can give your brain the same reset:
- Mute notifications for an hour a day.
- Take a walk outside without music or your phone. Allow thoughts of well-being to flood your mind.
- Eat one meal in silence without the TV on or your phone propped up on the table. Notice your surroundings or the textures of your favorite meal.
- Practice quiet thinking or guided meditation each week.
It might not be easy, but if you start to hear your own mental chatter kick up, telling you that you’re wasting your time, just remember that some top performers are already trying this and say it works.
Founders Are Already Experimenting
Adler isn’t alone in turning to stillness. Other entrepreneurs are trying silent retreats and seeing results.
A few hours or a day of silence feels manageable, but serial entrepreneur Lorenzo Tencati tried it for over a week. He described his experience in a ten-day Vipassana meditation course in the Sierra Nevadas. The rules were unyielding and effective: no speaking, no eye contact, no reading, no writing. Even gestures were forbidden. All you had was yourself. For many, it was an experience they had never had.
The day began at four a.m. with a gong, followed by hours of seated and walking meditation. The meals were simple vegetables and were served twice daily, in total silence. The only sounds were wooden spoons at mealtimes and the retreat-goers’ breathing.
By the fourth day, Tencati was uncomfortable. Every instinct to fidget, talk, or check a device went nowhere. But suddenly, on day seven, restlessness was replaced with concentration. Time expanded. Thoughts slowed. Breathing became enough proof of his and others’ existence. That critical inner voice quieted. By the time the retreat ended, he said he felt a physical aversion to his phone.
By the following Monday, Tencati was back to work with sharper priorities, a new strategic clarity, and a better relationship with his cortisol and his phone.
Not every experience is the same. Crypto innovator Charles Hoskinson, who founded Cardano, found this out firsthand. He went on a multi-day darkness retreat in Oregon’s Sky Cave center. He immersed himself in total isolation—no light, no devices, meals passed silently through a hatch.
He sought a deeper understanding of himself through stillness. But the path wasn’t smooth. Just twelve hours in, he decided to end the experience and return home. He described extreme mental and emotional shock. There were “terrifying shadows gnawing at my soul, sleep‑paralysis demons, and [an] inability to breathe.” He likened the experience to a cult horror film. For him, that twelve hours was enough, saying, “Much wisdom gained.”
For many, dark immersion isn’t initially peaceful. It provides a mirror, and the reflection is not always reassuring. Still, if you give it an honest effort, it will reveal what you most need to see.
The Bigger Idea: Silence as Strategy
In a culture obsessed with speed and noise, quiet can feel counterintuitive. This type of intentional silence does more than calm you. It actually transforms the functioning of the brain. Investing two hours of quiet time during your day sparks cell growth in the brain’s learning and memory centers. This is a significant benefit to brains repeatedly asked to perform in cortisol-rich environments under prolonged pressure.
Most silence retreats require solo meditation. Meditation brings its own benefits, like activating the prefrontal cortex, sharpening focus, improving decision-making, and increasing self-control. Each of these has a direct impact on the way you lead in the workplace.
Neuroscience backs this up. Quiet time boosts neuroplasticity. This is your brain’s ability to adapt and form new connections. It lowers cortisol, rebalances dopamine and serotonin, and creates space for long-term thinking. Leaders who take time for this report better focus, renewed energy, and, most importantly, the ability to see the big picture again.
The Takeaway: Pause to Move Faster
Intentional stillness isn’t going to take you away from your goals or lower your work performance. It’s going to ground you, remind you of your own abilities, and refuel you to make smart decisions in the coming work week. Whether it’s a silent meal, a tech-free walk or jog, or a weekend without news or work notifications, giving your brain space to breathe can unlock surprising clarity.
Your next big idea or impactful leadership decision might be buried under a lot of noise. And sitting with yourself in the quiet could be the best way to unearth it.
