Image Credit: Stefan Sagmeister’s Time Off timeline
In October 2021 I left my job without another which for many reasons was the right decision for me albeit a difficult one to make. I had planned to take a break to the end of 2021 and then set up my own business in early 2022.
Then I watched Stefan Sagmeister’s Ted Talk and the direction of my life changed completely. That was over 2 years ago now and this video still has the huge impact on my life like it did when I first watched it.
Stefan Sagmeister runs a design studio in New York and every 7 years he closes it for a year to pursue some little experiments, things that are always difficult to accomplish during the regular working year. In this year Stefan and his team are not available to any of their clients as they are totally closed.’
Stefan refers to this time as a ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’.
That’s it, 30 seconds into this Ted Talk I was hooked. All plans of setting up and running my own business faded from my mind. I wanted this time, I wanted ‘A LOVELY AND VERY ENERGETIC TIME’ just as Stefan had described.
Stefan is very lucky to work on his passions of music & design but outlines that after a while even this can get boring and everything starts to look the same. This is true for any work we do, even if it is something we are deeply passionate about. We need variety and we need to be learning to nurture & fuel our creativity & innovation, keeping our work fresh & exciting.
Below is Stefan’s genius idea in a timeline. Stefan explains we spend roughly the first 25 years of our lives learning in some form of education, we spend roughly the next 40 years working and if we are lucky enough, we spend roughly the next 15 years in retirement.
Stefan takes 5 of these retirement years and disperses them throughout his working life – GENIUS!
Stefan explains that this is clearly enjoyable for him but also the work that comes out of this year flows back into his company and society at large and so is beneficial to everyone.
Stefan outlines some of the creative ideas & success that he and other companies such as 3M and Google have had by giving their employees time to creatively pursue whatever they want. It is this creativity that keeps people FRESH, CREATIVE & INNOVATIVE.
It is this FRESHNESS, CREATIVITY & INNOVATION that differentiates companies that grow & succeed from companies that regress & fail.
Thankfully this creative time allowed Art Fry to develop the Post-It while working with 3M! Anyone who has worked with me will know my obsession with Post-Its!
After 30 seconds of his Ted Talk, Stefan had inspired me to take time off.
Time to spend with loved ones, time to learn, time to focus on all the things I wasn’t getting to while I was working, time to enjoy this ‘LOVELY AND ENERGETIC TIME’, time to fuel and nurture my creativity & innovation, time to do whatever it is that I want to do.
I took it one step further than Stefan and didn’t put a timeline on my TIME OFF. I’m currently over 2 years into my TIME OFF and even though I didn’t plan to take so much time off it has been an amazing gift.
Is there something you want to take TIME AWAY FROM?
Does your work take time to nurture & fuel your CREATIVITY & INNOVATION to ensure you and your work stay FRESH & INTERESTING?
How much time do you spend pursuing what you want to pursue?
I understand not every business can shut down for a year but even giving yourself 10 – 15% CREATIVITY & INNOVATION TIME would make huge improvements in your life & work
I’d love to know your thoughts on Stefan’s Ted Talk.
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Thanks for reading,
Siobhain
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