The R&D week that changed my next 3 months

Author

Jeff Sauer
November 01, 2025

In partnership with

I felt lost after hitting my big goals. Here's what helped.

I just finished the most productive "unproductive" week I've had in months.

Let me explain.

For the last three months, I've been heads-down executing. MeasureSummit, MeasureU live trainings, commitments I'd made to the company. Good stuff. Necessary stuff.

But when I finished those major goals, something weird happened.

I felt... lost.

My instinct was to fill the void immediately. Find the next big project. Keep the momentum going because momentum had been working so well.

But I caught myself. Was I picking the next RIGHT thing, or just the next RIGHT NOW thing?

Huge difference.

The Research Week

Instead of jumping into another project, I gave myself permission to take a full week for R&D.

Not vacation. Not grinding. Just... research and reflection.

I watched all those mastermind recordings that had been piling up in my inbox for three months. YouTube strategy. No-code lead magnets. Black Friday promotion tactics. Ideas from successful people I'd been too busy to absorb.

Here's what happened: after soaking in all that input, I had a completely different perspective on what actually mattered.

The project I was about to dive into? Still might be good. But now I can see a path to something potentially 5x better.

The Hard Part

I had to give up a self-imposed deadline.

Nobody was asking for it. I'd created the pressure to "stay busy" and "keep momentum" because being heads-down had been working.

But momentum without direction is just expensive motion.

Taking that week felt wrong. Uncomfortable. Like I was being lazy or losing my edge.

But now? It feels like the smartest business decision I've made in months.

Why This Matters for You

I've always advocated for taking a week off every quarter - preferably every month - where you're not grinding on deliverables.

That's where the good ideas come from. That's where perspective shifts happen.

But most of us (myself included) resist it because we're addicted to the feeling of forward motion, even when we're not sure we're moving in the right direction.

Here's the thing: AI makes this approach even more powerful.

You can compress months of research into hours. Learn new techniques faster than ever. Get up to speed on tools and strategies that used to take weeks to understand.

But you still need to create the space to let that input marinate and connect with your specific situation.

The Permission Slip

If you've been following along with any techniques I've shared but haven't acted on them, maybe use your R&D week to dive deep on those.

Or if you're feeling that same "what's next?" confusion after hitting some goals, give yourself permission to pause.

The next RIGHT thing is worth more than ten right-now things.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop being productive for a week.

To Your AI-First Success,
Jeff Sauer

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