Taking on so many responsibilities is really fun and interesting. I enjoy working on every single task I have in front of me but sometimes everything just feels too tiring or boring.
Personally, I don’t like the latter feelings. So last year, when I was going through a hard time focusing on my tasks, I took one of the best decisions I had in my life.
I took a week away from all my responsibilities.
I read time ago that this was a practice that Bill Gates did twice a year and helped him to be more creative, analytical, and just spend time even away from the Internet.
So I thought if I have the chance to do it, as I could take days off at work and most of my other tasks were of things that I was the leader of, I had to give it a try. So that is what I did.
There were some problems to replicate the full experience though. Bill Gates usually goes to a cabin he has in the woods and doesn’t have to worry much about food. Due to the chaos in the world, it was impossible to do. But at least, I created some rules no to access the Internet, not watching TV, and not spending much time in front of screens.
During that week, probably the biggest change I felt was that I didn’t have to worry about missing things out. My friends knew that I was not going to reply for a week and my family was fine with that as well.
But not only that, as I also realized that I had much more free time and energy to focus on other tasks that were on my To-do list for a while. Like creating a list of the books I want to read next, some art projects that I didn’t allow myself to plan, and some other tasks related to my purpose in life.
I was decided that I had to make the best out of the week. By the third day, I had so many things clear that I just wanted to call the break off. But there was one thing that bothered me: I realized that I didn’t have a clear idea of my own journey.
Sure, I was doing many things but I wasn’t sure if they were even aligned or synchronized to serve a higher purpose. And a new journey to understand the self began.
I would make this an even longer issue but I think is to make it short and recommend instead that, if you are planning to take a week away from everything, read first the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek. This was a quick read that helped me so much to ask the right questions and spend time to find myself again.
If you ever feel like taking a break like this, please let me know. I will be happy to exchange such experiences.
Have a wonderful week,
John
Weekly realizations
Learning over having a big portfolio - I saw many discussions on Twitter about the importance of having a good GitHub profile. And some others preferring to focus more on developing our learning skills. This made me think that I was focusing too much on my learning process and not displaying enough about what I know. This is something that is now on my list of new habits to create.
Sustainability is applied differently in different places - I had some interesting talks with friends this week about how the environmental part and the social part of the SDGs are seen differently depending on where you come from. It really depends on your background, your interests, and what kind of impact you want to create. We will be talking about such a topic on my podcast soon. To listen to it go to: https://go.johnchque.com/podcast
Highlight of the week
I am finally vaccinated! I had to make a long trip to find the right vaccine that would allow me to get into Europe. It was definitely a long journey that I would share some insights about in a later post. If you are not yet vaccinated against COVID, take some time to reach to the closest medical center.