Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Power of Time Off



About seven months ago, I wrote about planning a mini-retirement. In this video, Stefan Sagmeister talks about the power of sabbaticals. For Stefan, the time off informed his work time. He was more creative as a graphic designer. It also meant that he could realign "job"-- something you do 9-5 for the money with "calling"-- something that is inherently fulfilling. Time off offered him opportunities for re-calibration.

So mini-retirements can bring work and calling into sync. We can work less to work really well. Working "less" is relative. It doesn't mean trying to do things better than everyone else, or figuring out something that noone else has figured out (ala The Four Hour Workweek). It could mean 40 hours/week, or 20 hours/week outside of the home, with 20 hours inside your home.

This idea has helped to loosen the sense of what career success means to me, even as I've been praying NOT to be driven to "change the world".

If you feel as though a mini-retirement is not really something that will work for you, is there some practice that could help you bring your work and your calling more in line with one another?

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