Hector Hughes

Getting the world a little more Unplugged 📵🌳

In 2019 I burnt out...

And ended up a silent retreat in the Himalayas.

It was incredible; just what I needed. 

The best thing about it?

Upon arrival they took our phones off us. We spent 10 days completely cut off from the outside world.

Back in the UK I had catch up with my dear friend Ben. And told him where I'd been.

We discussed how rare it is to get a little time offline... Far harder than one might expected. 

And also how magical it can be.

Then the very next week...

I quit my job, and we started Unplugged.

5 years on we have close to 50 cabins. And have helped over 13,000 people spend a few days offline. 

And we've barely begun...

Co-Founder & CEO

Helping people live happier lives by providing digital detoxes at beautiful cabins in nature. 

Watch this space.

We’ve caused hundreds of break ups... 😬 

And I’m glad.

A friend told me the other day an Unplugged stay was the nail in the coffin in his last relationship.

Three days offline together was enough to see it just wasn't working…

Now, 3.5 years on, he and his new partner are married and recently had their first child

Delighted we could be a small part of making that happen 🤝 

Could your relationship survive…?  👀

Busy unplugging humanity I Co-Founder & CEO @ Unplugged 📵🌳

Still not over getting rinsed on Reddit 5 years ago 😬

Every time I feel my ego inflate...

I just open this thread.

One astute person said: "I'm pretty sure Hector and Ben are the same person with different haircuts."

no comment on that...

Anyway, stay humble folks 🙏

Not a collab we saw coming... 

Unplugged x Audi

Audi have been around for 117 years. 111 years longer than us.

And they've built one the world's most iconic brands. 

When they wanted to promote their new electric estate car Emma Barlow wanted to explore escaping the internet and turning to reality...

So where else but Unplugged.

Gary Vaynerchuk is just about the best trend caller out there...

And he won’t stop talking about unplugging.

No one was earlier, and more right about the rise of social. 

Now he’s changed his tune.

He's predicting an unplugged revolution…

Welcome to the party Gary. 🫡🚀

cc Unplugged

If this hits a bit too close to home…

You’re not alone.

Such a profound campaign; we've all been there. 👏

And it’s not your fault. Apps are designed to be addictive.

But it doesn’t have to be this way…

The 30-30 rule is still undefeated for burnout 🏆

Haven't got 30 years free?

Try Unplugged 🙏 x

I checked in a football fan recently in a shocking state.

He was a jibbering mess… 

I greeted him, as I do with all our guests, and he could barely string a sentence together.

When he came out I’ve never seen a change like it.

And can believe he documented the whole thing! 

See how it went for yourself. 👇

cc Unplugged

Every week there's a scramble to learn the latest AI tool

FOMO is through the roof 📈😵‍💫

Not a bad time to keep it simple...

Yes AI is going to fundamentally change how we work. 

Yes many industries are being disrupted. 

Does that mean you need to spend 80 hours a week furiously keeping up with the newest tools?

No. No it doesn't.

So close Claude. Put away your Mac Mini. And go and re-introduce yourself to your kids.

A pen, paper, and an analog watch still at the heart of my tech stack. 🙏

On having a cofounder:

This is Ben.

We met 9.5 years ago in my interview for Nobly POS.

For the last 6 years we’ve been running Unplugged together.

It’s a huge question for every founder starting out: Who to do it with? To go alone or partner up?

It’s been a complete joy.

It’s perhaps the biggest decision any founder makes: Who to do it with?

Founding teams come in all shapes and sizes.

Ben and I worked together for two years prior to Unplugged during which we became friends.

When the opportunity to start something together emerged it was an easy choice.

It’s akin to a marriage.

There are many things we’ve disagreed on over the years; but that’s beauty. Much better decisions were made as a result.

And perhaps the most important point:

It’s far more fun doing it with someone. 

Working with Ben, and now the rest of the team is easily the biggest joy in my work today.

It’s not about what you do in this life, but who you do it with.

So thank you for the last 6 years B! 

Looking forward to many more to come. 🙏🚀 x

PSA: You don’t have to constantly be productive.

You're not going to "fall behind"

Sometimes, the best and most helpful thing you can do…

Is just sit and look out of the window....

And achieve absolutely nothing. 📵🌳

You know that feeling... 

When you just want to throw your phone in a lake... 

And run away to a cabin in the woods? 

Well…

You can.  

cc Unplugged

I used to think that being a "good boss" meant being a nice person. 

I’ve completely changed my mind. 

There's being nice and there's being kind...

The best leaders tend to be the latter.

Being nice is really about you. How you want to be perceived. Whether people like you. 

Being kind is about taking necessary action. It’s about other people. 

Perfect example: 

Giving hard feedback. 

I'd previously go months, or even years, not giving direct enough feedback, trying to be "nice". 

But then inevitably, when I do pluck up the courage, it's the best thing for everyone.

Giving hard feedback isn’t nice. Letting someone go definitely isn’t nice. 
But it can be the kind thing to do, for both of you.  

I’ve always overindexed on being a nice guy... 

These days, I’m really trying to be kind instead.

BA doing our marketing for us 😏 

But...
 
If you don't manage to turn off your phone on your trip, you'll still just be answering emails by the pool...

So we'll take it from here 😉 

Great campaign. 🙌 
 
h/t Alex Handa!

Being a founder can be a massive ego trip. 

(And yes, I’m aware of the irony of writing this in a linkedin post about myself..!)

Why is anyone a founder? 

Personally, I founded Unplugged because I want to make this change in the world. 

I’d love to see as many people as possible put down their phones and get back to living their lives. 

And that’s 100% the case. I genuinely think it’s important. I’m super passionate about it. 

But, to be brutally honest…

I’m sure one other driver is some need to prove I’m special. To show the world how smart I am. Seeking external validation.

I suspect I’m not the only one.

When you build a company, it so hard to separate it from your identity and self worth.

So much of my life is spent obsessing over “how’s the business going” or being told “you guys are smashing it” 

And none of that really matters.

It’s all just an ego trip for the little boy inside me seeking validation.

So I’m working to change that. To let go of the need to “achieve”. I’m living more from a place of “I am not in control.” And just turning up each day to do the work in front of me.

Life will unfold how it will.

The best I can really do is turn up and be a kind, helpful, person each day. 

My self worth shouldn’t be contingent on business performance or linkedin engagement. 

Easy in theory and yet so hard in practice. And it’s found offline, stomping around in the wild like in this picture. More time doing that is on the agenda for me.

It's all work in progress...

There have been many thrills and spills building Unplugged 😬

I’ll be sharing them this Thursday...

With the wonderful people at BrainStation

Come along if you’re in London!

Drop me a message or comment below for the link 👇

This is wild...

If it takes 15 minutes to regain focus...

And most of us can't go 15 minutes without checking our phone...

That means we spend the whole day distracted...

Meaning that we spend our whole lives distracted. 

No wonder we feel so frazzled all the time. 

One of the things about doing a digital detox is that you realize just how stressed out you really were. 

It's hard to notice when you're in the middle of it. 

It just feels normal. 

It's only when you put the phone down that you realize how fractured your attention is.

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