Hello world!

I’ve started a new routine of watching a TED talk with my morning coffee. 

I don’t do anything else other than listen, watch and drink. In a way it’s my nod to mindfulness; for me to be able to start a new day really listening and focusing on an interesting video and the taste of coffee sets my day off in a calming way.  In these few minutes if I have any thoughts about what I need to do that day, where I’m going later or what shopping I need to get, I am now aware that my mind has strayed and I rewind the video a couple of seconds and get right back into the talk.  

This morning’s entertainment was a talk on how powerful taking time off work can be (scroll down for video).

Within a few words Stefan Sagmeister managed to convey exactly my gut feeling on why it is important to sometimes take a step out and change focus for a while, and why I’m currently on a sabbatical myself.  

I’ve long since referred to my break as my ‘early retirement’ so hearing Stefan explain exactly that concept – taking off some years from retirement and interspersing them throughout his working life – hit the nail on the head for me.

 

What I learned from this talk:

1. Without a plan you can just react to life, which may be good and enjoyable but it also may be more helpful to still plan your time.

I realised this myself after a couple of months of no routine and no plan, just doing what I wanted, when I wanted. I was enjoying my time off but I didn’t feel very productive. It was only when I set myself a daily routine (just like a school timetable!) that I felt I was being more efficient with my learning. Even though I was roughly still doing the same things as before I became more aware of the progress I was making after structuring my day.

 

2. You may not fully appreciate the importance of an experience or knowledge straight away.

Sometimes I may not be getting the full benefit of what I’m learning on my break whilst I’m on it but it may influence my work and life for years to come – similar to how Stefan’s following 7 years’ worth of ideas stemmed from his sabbatical.

 

3. You won’t know whether a risk is worth it until you try.

It’s quite a risk stepping out of your working life to take time to do something just for yourself; how will it effect my career, what might a gap look like on your CV etc. When I requested my break I’m not sure I really knew many (if any) people who had taken a sabbatical for something like personal development.  Before when I had come across people who had taken a career break it was for a specific purpose such as to travel or to undertake a degree. Although I knew the purpose of my break was to develop my knowledge on certain topics, to me it didn’t feel a valid reason enough because it wasn’t an academic course or a finite period of travel. I felt as though I was going against the grain and not following a ‘normal’ career path so it was a risk for me to even ask for it and how my work might react.

But now I have learnt an incredible amount about myself and the topics I’m interested in that I’m not as worried about the impact on my career because I know this time has been invaluable to me and what I offer to the working world – yet I wouldn’t know this or have expanded my knowledge had I not taken a risk to ask for a break in the first place.