A Sabbatical - Some Musings
Last Monday was my last day at work and I am starting what hopefully will be a couple of sabbatical months.
Now, does sabbatical means no work at all? Not for me. I have already a long list of things I would like to do during this time, from visiting friends and family in Argentina to write a manifesto (or a couple of manifestos, if possible) for "Change this!".
But I must confess I am a bit worried. Would I be able to do if not everything, at least most of what's in my list? I have a lot of time now, and that is what worries me the most. One of the best teachers I ever had at school, once told us that the idea that most of us have of "having all the time, with no interruptions, to get some things done" is just a fantasy.
In his words, the idea of "If I could take some months off, go to a cabin in the middle of the woods with no phone and a good fireplace, I may be able to write the book I have been planning for so long", is, most of the time, the wrong one. Some people do work like that, and those are already working like that. "But if you are one of those persons that can get your job accomplished with 20 interruptions per hour, if you ever go to that cabin, you will probably get asleep in front of the fireplace". Those of us that get things done in a multitasking environment, we profit more of the lack of time than of the surplus of it".
Those words will always resonate in me. I am a multitasker by nature and the lack of time has always been (in some twisted way) helpful for my productivity. Will I be able to get things done now that I do have so much time in my hands? I'll keep you posted....
Meanwhile, I leave you with a comic that made me smile.
I am not the type that goes into cruises (at all) but this is more or less what happens to me if I am doing nothing for more than a couple of days....
Ever felt this way?
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