Taking Time

In the few months since I have completed The Iron Yard and started freelancing, I have become keenly aware of time.

Time has been my friend, and my enemy. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I have grown so much in such a short amount of time. And now I have become quite protective of that time.

When I was working, corporate style, time was something that I never had enough of. Now I see that so much of it was just wasted. Wasted commuting to work, wasted in meetings that would inevitably end with the request for a future meeting. There was also a lot of time waste at work. In many cases, I could have done my job in less than half the week. But I had to show up everyday in order to be seen as a good employee. There are many things wrong with this picture.

Now I am learning about new ways to think of my time. It is important, as a freelancer, that I put my time into things that really matter. Although I thought that most of that time would be head down working, I am finding that a lot of that time is getting out, meeting people, and learning from others.

Which got me thinking about sabbaticals.

Its the one thing that has made me really consider being a college professor. I think that just as time working is important, time spent away from that work can be almost more important. Now that I am learning more about what it is that I need in order to be successful, I am convinced that taking sabbatical may be a part of that.

Apparently, I am not alone. There are others out there who are implementing sabbaticals into the way that they work, and finding that you can gain so much by learning when to take the right kind of break.

Don’t believe me, just watch….