[Clears throat …] Back in the old days, when I was teaching and consulting, I would have plenty of spare time to read books, muck around with Oracle, get the bills paid on time and so on.
These days I’m working full time, catching up with friends when I can and have the usual family responsibilities so I don’t have as much thinking time. Much the same as most lives, I should imagine.
This week, though, I’m spending the days with my daughter while her mum is at work and she’s on school holidays. We’re going to have fun in London next week, but this week’s a quiet week at home. She likes playing around on computers too and, as there’s no wireless availability in her house, sometimes I’m just lounging around, letting her use the computer 😉 The positive aspect of this is that I’ve been able to stop, read a little more than usual and have a little think about an up-coming presentation, what I want it to show and the best approach.
At home at nights, the server’s been switched on again for the first time in a while and I’m torn between about half a dozen different things I’d like to try including Solaris 10, VMware and orasrp. I could also do with tidying up the website a bit. I’ve never understood how people can say they’d be lost and bored without a full time job. I have an endless list of activities that I’d like to try that wouldn’t involve sitting in an office. If I ever won a lottery (I rarely play) I would find plenty to do without a job, thanks very much.
Full time work means I encounter constant new situations and problems to solve, but the work/life/money balance of occasional consulting suits me more, I think. Maybe I’ll go back to that some day, but not in the immediate future.
However, I can’t over-emphasise the need to stop working (maybe even leave the computers alone) read a few good books and just sit around *thinking*. As for that infernal Internet, you really need to keep a check on just how much time you waste there 😉
I think we all sometimes need to switch off every electronic device in the vicinity and just ponder matters. We might be surprised what ideas we come up with!
i have n life outside of work and the net. i am not worthy.😉
I couldn’t agree more! (Not that I’m particulary consistent at it….)
The best career advice I EVER received was from my first manager at BankAmerica — I was concerned about having some downtime between projects. He laughed, looked me straight in the eye, and said “enjoy the lull.” He encouraged me to read up on whatever interested me right then, even if it didn’t seem related to tasks at hand..
It’s good to look up once in a while and really see the world around us (technical, professional, personal — all of it)
“He encouraged me to read up on whatever interested me right then, even if it didn’t seem related to tasks at hand.. “
The thing is, I find it really hard to do that in an office, but the free time away from that environment with all it’s hussle and bustle and email, changes my thought processes.
Still waters run deep, goes the saying. The other kind must be turbulent and shallow.
one of my new year decisions in 2006 was to drastically reduce my online presence and go back to a simpler schedule, with plenty of time left to read the backlog pile of books in my office. I’m glad to report it’s working, on schedule and I’m enjoying every single second of it! 🙂